The Togruta Padawan and The Veteran Captain
by USMilitary1941
Summary: The Togruta Jedi Padawan and The Veteran Clone Captain each have feelings for each other but neither are sure how to act on them. I haven't figured out how long this will be, but at least a few chapters unless I get positive reviews. If you want this to continue leave a comment or PM me. Takes place around the end of season 4 entering season 5.
1. Chapter 1

**_I figured to do this as a little fun project after reading a few chapters of "Whatever happened to Captain Rex" by LongLiveTheClones. I've always loved Ahsoka and Rex as characters in the show and figured that they deserved to be together. Read and enjoy, and if you think I should continue, let me know either by commenting or sending me a_ PM.**

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Lucasfilm or anything else mentioned in this story yada yada yada baseball bats**_

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"Rex, get your men over to Ahsoka's position, she's about to be overrun." Skywalker had shouted as he was deflecting off blaster bolts

"Yes, General, you four come with me." Rex said as he gathered four of his men to reinforce Ahsoka's position. "Hang in there Commander." Rex muttered as his men began to move out.

Anakin and some of the other clones had held off the droids long enough for Rex to reach Ahsoka's position "Let's go, move it!" Rex shouted as he knew time was of the essence to reach her position. He reached her position and found bodies strewn about, both clones and droids. He heard blaster fire coming from the north and immediately sprinted to find the source.

Rex had found Ahsoka holding her side with one hand while using the other to fend off the droids blaster fire. "Set up a perimeter, I don't want anything to get through." Rex shouted as he knelt before Ahsoka while the other clones formed a defensive perimeter around her position. He checked the wounds and found a piece of shrapnel in her side, he knew that pulling it out would be equally as bad. She was still conscious but was dreary from her wound.

"Good to see you, Rex." Ahsoka said smiling as best she could

"Likewise, Commander." Rex said "We have to get you out of here."

Blaster fire and explosions were being strewn about, his men were holding the droids off for now "Sir, we can't hold them off any longer." One of the troopers said before having a blaster bolt crash into his skull killing him instantly leaving Rex with a man short.

"Commander, we have to move." Rex said as he picked up his blaster and opened fire on the droids "Can you walk ma'am?"

Ahsoka grunted as she got up from her position and unhooked her lightsaber and ignited it, "Commander, get back to Skywalker's position we'll hold the clankers off while you retreat."

As much to her disadvantage she didn't like retreating especially at the cost of her own men, she nodded and started to make her way back as Rex and his men provided suppressing fire against the droids. With each step taken backwards, the droids were advancing quickly and Rex's men could be overwhelmed easily if it wasn't for Rex's knowledge of the battlefield. As they were retreating, he motioned for the rest of his men to gather position for an ambush. Rex sprinted ahead and laid down detonators along the small corridor and waited for the droids to walk right into the trap. When they were in range, Rex made a nod and blaster fire came in from different directions at the droids and in the confusion, Rex had hit the detonators and blew the droids sky high. Walking among the strewn droids, Rex checked to make sure all the droids were disable.

"Nice job, Captain." One of the clones said

"Thanks, Fox." Rex said "Let's get back to General Skywalker's position and rendezvous to get the hell of this rock."

Rex and his remaining clones high-tailed it back to Skywalker's position only to find it with Skywalker walking over the carnage his men had inflicted on the droids. He saw Ahsoka being treated by one of the medics and rushed over to her. He was stopped and was assured that she would be fine, he was surprised that Skywalker had not shown much emotion but then again he never understood the way Jedi responded to emotion. Rex had immensely cared for Ahsoka ever since he laid eyes on her all those years ago when she was only of fourteen and a Padawan. Still a Padawan, she was much more experienced on how combat was understood over the past couple years. He always wondered how long this war would last and what Rex and his fellow clones would do once this was over. They had been created for combat and knew nothing else, he hadn't considered himself as a number that he was created with but an actual person.

Skywalker had made his way up to Rex after talking with some of the other clones to get a casualty count "Everything alright, Captain?"

"Yes, sir." Rex said looking back at the ship that was taking Ahsoka to Anakin's capital ship the _Resolute_ "I'm just a little worried about Commander Tano is all sir."

Anakin understood Rex's concern because for one she was Anakin's Padawan and if he lost her, he would never forgive himself "Snips will be fine Captain, she's tough." He said "She'll pull through."

"I hope you're right General." Rex said looking back at Skywalker

"When have I ever let you down Rex?" He said

"I can think of a few times sir." Rex said smirking

Anakin chuckled at Rex's smart remark "Admiral Yularen, how's it looking up there?" Skywalker asked his Admiral in charge of his fleet.

Admiral Yularen was one of the best there was and Skywalker was glad to have the best commanding his fleet, he had been personally called upon by Chancellor Palpatine himself to throw a uniform back on and serve the Republic. Yularen reluctantly agreed and was now serving under General Skywalker "The Separatist fleet is retreating and General Kenobi's fleet is coming out of hyperspace now to relieve you sir."

"Very good, Admiral. Commander Tano was injured during the fighting, make sure she gets the she needs right away." Anakin said

"Of course, sir. The medical droids are already prepped and waiting for Commander Tano." Yularen said

"Very good, Admiral. We'll be on our way back once Obi-Wan lands and takes over from here." Anakin said hanging up

The Separatist forces had been all but routed from the planet and Obi-Wan's fleet had been tasked with mopping up the remaining droid forces, Kenobi's gunship had landed and was followed by the rest of his gunships landing on the surface. Obi-Wan had gotten out followed by his second in command, Commander Cody, who Rex had done a couple missions with.

"Good to see you, Obi-Wan." Anakin said walking up to greet his master

"Likewise, Anakin." He replied "Captain Rex." He said greeting the Captain as well as Rex greeting Cody with orderly fashion

Cody ordered his men to fan out and set up a perimeter while Rex's men were wrapping things up and getting ready to head back to the Resolute "Where's Ahsoka?" Obi-Wan asked

Anakin had walked away to re-organize his men to get loaded up onto the gunships leaving Rex with Kenobi and Cody, Rex was hesitant to answer but gathered his composure "She was hit with a piece of shrapnel and was wounded, she had enough strength to make it back to General Skywalker's position but passed out soon after." Rex said "She was evacuated not too long ago and was taken up to the Resolute."

"Ahsoka is a very wise and headstrong Padawan, much like her master." Obi-Wan said "She'll be fine Captain." He said reassuring Rex

Anakin had summoned Rex over to take over loading everything else into the gunships for departure. After an hour or so of loading everything, Anakin's battalion had finished and shuttled back to the Resolute

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Rex took off his armor and got into his fatigues as he sat down on his bunk to rethink on the day's events. He had feelings for the young Jedi Padawan but had no idea how to act on them. He was a clone trooper that was built and bred for combat, he got along with Commander Tano and the two trusted each other with their lives, telling her how he felt, well that was a different story. He respected the Jedi immensely but believed that their code was too strict with not just feelings but for combat as well. If they were peacekeepers, why were they leading the assault against the Separatists? He had overheard General Skywalker talk to Commander Tano about the Jedi code, if a Jedi can control and mask their emotions so well, why weren't they allowed to form relationships? That whole concept of clouding your vision with love is stupid, he thought. Love is something that is human nature and should not be tucked away because a code tells you too. He got up and began pacing back and forth in the barracks, luckily no one was in the barracks to see him talk to himself.

After about an hour or two of talking to himself and contemplating the situation, he decided to go ahead and check up on Ahsoka to see how she was doing. He touched the keypad and the door opened to find Ahsoka resting and a medical droid taking care of her wounds. He nodded at the droid and it finished up what it was doing and left the room leaving the two of them alone. He sat there for almost twenty to thirty minutes before actually making any movements, he still wasn't clear on how to act on his emotions. He was about to speak but not before Ahsoka had woke up to greet the clone captain.

"Hey there, Rex." Ahsoka said softly as she had not recovered all her strength.

"Good to see you, Commander." Rex said

Ahsoka could sense that something was wrong but couldn't figure out what it was exactly "Is something wrong?"

"No," Rex said "I'm fine, it's just good to see that you're doing well." He said getting up and heading towards the doorway

Still persistent as always, Ahsoka asked again "Are you sure you're alright?"

He stopped in the doorway and lowered his head and shut his eyes before turning back around "I'm fine, Commander."

That was all he said before he exited the room and shut the door, leaving young Ahsoka confused in the room by herself and the medical droid that had appeared _I care about him, he doesn't have to shrug me off_ she thought to herself, before drifting back off into sleep to get some much needed sleep.

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Ahsoka had been recovering better than expected but she still wasn't battle ready, she learned from her master that you don't get things done by sitting around. She was sitting in her quarters meditating and using the force to lift the meticulous objects around her, all the meanwhile thinking about Rex. _I care about him, if he needed anything he would say something right?_ She thought to herself _Sure the Code didn't permit this but when was I ever one to follow the code anyway, I mean my master is Anakin Skywalker. When was he ever to follow the rules?_ She continued to think, the objects that she was lifting around her started to shake _All he needs to do is open his mouth and I'll give him an honest answer. It just bugs me that he keeps everything bottled up inside and he's not saying anything. _ The objects started to shake even more and within minutes they were on the floor.

Little did Ahsoka know, Anakin was watching her from the doorway to check up on her recovery "Everything alright, Snips?" She had apparently been startled by her master's appearance.

"I'm fine master, I was just meditating and trying to recover." She said stumbling over her words

"How are you feeling?"

"Better, I think I'm ready and can go back to doing missions again." She said confidently

Anakin was hesitant but she was his padawan and knew she took after her master in stubbornness and knew that she was never going to quit bugging him if he said no "If you're feeling up to it then alright, let's head up to the bridge."

She threw her normal clothing on and followed her master up to the bridge to find Captain Rex and Admiral Yularen discussing the upcoming mission, she caught some of the conversation before they stopped after Anakin had walked into the room.

"I'm telling you, Admiral it just isn't possible. Intel says that the warehouse is crawling with clankers, there is no way we can maneuver through without getting detected. A frontal assault will have too many casualties." Rex said

Yularen had his head down in disagreement "That's why we're going to have a diversion, General Kenobi's forces along with Commander Cody will draw the forces away from the facility while we send a small squad in with the explosives."

"What about the blockade around the planet?" Rex asked

"General Skywalker is going to break through the blockade with our fighters." Yularen said

Rex still wasn't sure how well this plan was going to work out "Alright, suppose we get everyone down to the surface intact, how small is the squad going to have to be?"

"At most, five or six men." Yularen said but stopped when he saw Skywalker and Ahsoka enter the room and both of them had snapped to attention.

Rex and Ahsoka had exchanged glances, nothing more as of the moment "Is everyone clear on the plan?" Skywalker said

"Not entirely sir," Rex said as he brought up a three-dimensional image of the base they were going to be taking out "With all due respect, I don't think General Kenobi's and Commander Cody's forces can hold off the Seps that long for us to destroy the facility. There are bound to be droids that are still in and around the facility once they are drawn away." Rex said

Anakin studied the map carefully and realized that way to get to the central core would take too long, "You're right, Rex, you will have your men stationed at each of these junctions while you and another burn a hole in the wall here." He said pointing at an access panel that leads right through to core.

"How exactly are we going to be able to burn a hole through the wall?" Rex asked "It's like any of us are Jedi."

Anakin glanced back at Ahsoka who was waiting patiently "That's Commander Tano will be assisting you and your men Captain."

Rex and Yularen exchanged looks and shrugged "Alright, then sounds like a plan."

"Good, I want you and troops outfitted within the hour." Anakin said leaving the bridge with Ahsoka

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Rex had his men geared up and ready to go just as Skywalker asked them to be, the squad was going to consist of six men: himself, Commander Tano, Fox, Grunt, Joker, and Delta. Each of them had proved themselves time and time again on the battlefield, and that's why he chose those six specifically. He still wasn't too sure of having Commander Tano go along with them _For one thing, she wears close to no armor, one shot and she'll go down like a sack of womprats, and another is that she still needs time to recover._ He thought but it wasn't up to him, General Skywalker had made the plans and he trusted him that it would be the right choice.

Everyone had been loaded into the gunship and were ready to come out of hyperspace. The call had come in over the comm from Admiral Yularen that they had just left hyperspace and that the Separatist fleet is holding steady.

"Roger that, Admiral." Skywalker said as the doors to the hanger opened and each of the fighters including Rex's gunship had flown out of "Red Squadron form up on me." He said "How you holding up Ironside?"

"Never felt better sir, time to blow those clankers to smithereens." Ironside replied with a few cheers from the other fighters

"We're going to make a hole for Obi-Wan's, Rex's, and Cody's men to get through." Anakin said "And no heroics."

After all the fighters we're done reporting in Anakin flew his fighters straight through the blockade and blew any droids that stood between them to pieces. He had lost one or two fighters on the initial run through but for the most part all the fighters and escorts made it through. "We'll draw their fire away from you guys. Good luck." Anakin said as he and his fighter squadron turned around and headed back to the space battle above the planet.

Each of the transports had landed and all the clones and their comrades had gotten out and engaged the droids. Obi-Wan and Cody had engaged the droids, and helped draw the fire away from Rex and Ahsoka, "Rex, we're going to draw their fire away from the facility. It's all yours." Obi-Wan said

"Roger that, General. Move out." He said as his small six man team began to move towards the facility, Ahsoka had sensed something and stopped for a minute "Commander, is everything okay?" Fox asked

She hesitated for a few moments before answering "I sense something…" She trailed off

"It's probably nothing, Commander." Grunt said as he took a step and a beast had grabbed his foot and tore him off into the brush where the screams had stopped.

Everyone was silent and Ahsoka just looked off into the brush "There's nothing we can do now." Rex said much to his dismay as he, like most commanders, did not like losing men in the field "We have to keep moving."

None of them like leaving a fallen man behind but they needed to finish their mission, Ahsoka wished she had acted earlier but no one could have predicted it.

"Note to self, do not mess with the local wildlife." Joker said

"Oh shut up for once, will you Joker?" Delta scolded back.

"Both of you quiet." Rex said in a commanding tone as they got closer to the droid facility.

Rex and Ahsoka had slowly crawled up to a ledge and took out a pair of binoculars to observe the surroundings, he saw multiple droid parts and much to his displeasure a few clone bodies but for the most part, the facility entrance was clear, minus a few droids that had been ordered to stay behind. He gave the binoculars to Ahsoka so she can have glance at the facility. "Looks like a few clankers are still around, Commander."

She was silent for a few minutes before responding "Shouldn't be a problem you and your men can't handle." She said giving the binocs back to Rex and moving back off the ledge to the rest of Rex's men.

"There's a few clankers around the entrance, we need to take them out fast before they call for reinforcements." Rex said "Time your shots carefully. Now let's move out." Rex said

He motioned for Delta and Fox to reach the other side of the facility that was coincidently covered by brush, carefully not making any sudden movements that would alert the droids. He saw Joker take up position on the far side away from Fox and Delta as he and Ahsoka had gotten into position on the opposite side of Fox and Delta.

After the five of them were in position, Rex took aim and motioned for the rest to open fire, it too less than three seconds before all the droids were taken care of. Ahsoka had stayed back behind Rex, since this was mainly his battle, the five of them had each gotten up and headed toward the entrance to regroup. "Fox and Delta, I want you two to stay here and hold this position while Commander Tano and I head inside to plant the explosives. Joker, you'll come with us and you'll hold one of the junction's from the north of our position." Rex said "Sound good."

"Yes sir." Delta and Fox said simultaneously

"Roger that, boss man." Joker said

"Good, let's move out." Rex said as Fox and Delta took up position around the entrance to the facility.

Rex, Ahsoka, and Joker made their way quietly through the base to the point where Ahsoka was to burn a hole straight through the wall to get down to the central core. Ahsoka ignited her lightsaber and began to cut her hole through the bulkhead while Rex and Joker took positions around her. After a few minutes of smelling the burnt steel, the slab had dropped straight to the floor. Rex and Ahsoka had hopped through the hole while Joker held position at the hole in the wall.

Knowing time was of the essence, Rex and Ahsoka sprinted down the passageway to the central core. Ahsoka sensed something again but this time it wasn't organic, "Down!" She yelled as she through Rex to the ground while on top of him.

_Oomph _Rex had hit the ground, hard. After he regained his composure after being thrown to the ground, Rex unhooked his duel blasters and fired two shots at the droids and took them down. _One of these days, I need to teach her not to throw me to the ground._ He got off two more shots and nailed the final droids at the end of the passageway, getting up he rolled his neck to crack it after being thrown to the ground. "Can you tell me next time you're going to throw me to the ground?"

She smirked at Rex's comment "You should be used to it by know." She added

"You know it was bad enough when you and General Skywalker through me off a wall on Geonosis." Rex said, clearly not amused since he was terrified for his life, even back on Kamino, during the simulations he never experienced terror such as being thrown off a twenty story wall. After exchanging smart remarks towards each other and encountering a few droid patrols but easily bypassing them they made their way to the central core unscathed.

Kneeling down and getting out the detonators from his pack, he carefully dissembled them at placed them at different intervals along the wall.

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Fox and Delta patrolled around the entrance and kept on the lookout for the droids that could have been sidetracked from Obi-Wan's and Cody's diversion.

"How long do you think this war is going to last?" Fox asked

Delta took out his binoculars and observed the brush around them "Beats me, Fox. I honestly don't know what we're going to do when this war ends."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that we were created and bred for combat, there is going to be nothing for us if the war ends."

Fox thought about the words Delta had presented him when his communicator rang.

"Fox, Delta, how's it going up there?" Rex asked

"All good up here sir." Fox responded as he turned around and didn't find Delta

He walked up to the brush and saw movement and raised his blaster towards the sound but before he knew what him, his neck was broken and was on the ground of the brush, dead. Commando droids had apparently infiltrated their position and hit Fox and Delta before they knew what happened.

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Rex was still placing the detonators around the bottom of the wall. He was carefully connecting the wires together before Ahsoka had walked up behind him and whispered "How's it coming along?"

Thought about giving a sarcastic remark, he realized it wasn't in the best interest "Almost there." He said as he was almost finished priming the charges, he hooked up the detonator to the charges to make sure they were in sync. Luckily they were, he didn't want what happened on the Rishii Moon, to happen now. Having one man to stay behind to set off the detonators, was a suicide mission, a mission that a commanding officer dreaded giving.

"Good to go." Rex said as he slid the detonator in his pack and radioed up Cody and General Kenobi "General Kenobi, we have the charges armed and set, heading back to the rendezvous now."

"Roger that Captain, Cody let's give them a going away present." Obi-Wan said "See you on the other side, Captain."

"Likewise, sir." Rex said ending with Kenobi and keying up Joker "Joker come in."

There was nothing but silence, Ahsoka and Rex had made their way back up through the hole and found Joker's body limp against the wall. Rex trotted over to him to check his pulse, _Nothing_ he whispered. He feared that it would come to this. He quickly assumed the worst had become of Fox and Delta as they didn't respond either to his transmission.

They made their way back to the entrance only to find Fox and Delta's bodies lain out onto the brush, he knelt down to see how they died, and then it came to him. _Commando Droids_, he thought as they were the same type of droids that he and Cody encountered back on the Rishii Moon.

"We have to make it to the rendezvous." Ahsoka said, as much as Rex didn't like the bodies of his men being left to the droids, _She was right, I'm sorry_ he thought as he picked up his duel blasters and sprinted with Ahsoka towards the rendezvous point.

Sprinting towards the RZ, Rex had covered Ahsoka from the behind in case any of the droids came back. While he was watching her back, he noticed what tremendous form she had been in, his eyes gazed from her montrails down to her rear before she spoke up and caught Rex off guard.

"Everything alright, Rex?" She asked as she caught sight of stumbling on the rocky terrain and just smirked, she figured that he had a thing for her but he never said or acted on anything.

After regaining his footing, he stood back up "I'm fine, Commander, I was just…you know what never mind." Rex said _Telling her what I was staring would not be good_ he thought to himself.

"Alright." Ahsoka said and sensed something again

"What is it?" Rex asked as they had stopped

Still continuing observing her surroundings she noticed a flash of armor in the distance "Down!" she yelled and through Rex to the ground with her on top of him again.

_Oomph_ Rex grunted from being thrown to the ground to the second time in the past twenty minutes _Alright, seriously again? I'm going to end up having chest problems if she keeps pulling this on me._ He unhooked his blasters again and immediately fired shots in the general direction of the droids blaster fire. He regained his composure and rolled to cover around the nearest rock, taking pot shots at the droids that came into view. Ahsoka was deflecting the droids blaster shots from both her lightsabers. _You know I have to give her credit, what she lacks in armor, she makes up for in skill and precision. _She was expertly deflecting blaster bolts from the incoming droids while Rex was still taking pot shots at the droids. He unclipped a droid popper from his belt and hurled at a group of droids and went down with ease.

The droids looked like there was no end, "Commander, get back to the rendezvous!" Rex shouted as he rolled out of cover as he was standing back to back with Ahsoka "I'll hold them off!"

"Not on your life!" She shouted back as Rex was still firing at the droids and quickly checked his belt to see if the detonator was still there, luckily it was still there.

One of the droids had lobbed a grenade towards them "Move!" Rex bellowed as he pushed Ahsoka to the nearest cover and dove away just in time before the grenade went off. The shockwave however knocked him few meters south of where Ahsoka was.

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"It's not like Rex to be late." Cody said

"I'm sure if something went wrong, Ahsoka would have called it in." Obi-Wan said

"I hope you're right." Cody stated as he was helping load the wounded on the gunships.

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_This bad if feeling like this was getting to familiar to me._ Rex thought as he propped himself up against a nearby piece of debris as blaster bolts were flying overhead.

He heard Ahsoka sprinting toward him "Rexie, are you okay?" She asked with a hint of concern in her voice

"I'll live." Rex grunted as he took more pot shots at the droids from over the piece of rock. "I told you to get to the rendezvous point, I'll hold them off."

After making sure nothing major was wrong with him, she ignited her lightsabers and went back to deflecting the droids blaster fire "No, if I leave you'll be overwhelmed."

"That's the point, I'll draw their fire while you retreat." Rex said still taking shots, this time throwing another droid popper over the rock

"I'm not leaving you here, while I run." Ahsoka said "I care about you, I'm not leaving you behind to become captured."

He paused at the statement, _I care about you…_ went over and over in his head "I'm not letting those clankers capture me. I'll go down fighting." He said then an idea popped into his head, if he blew the facility, it should distract them long enough to get back to the rendezvous.

"Get to cover, Commander. I'm gonna blow the droid place." Rex said as he saw her nod and dive towards a piece of cover. He rolled out of his piece of debris and hurled a thermal detonator long enough to distract them then pulled out his detonator. Before he reached back into cover though, a droid had taken a shot and clipped off his communicator and burnt part of his hand. He ignored the pain and pressed the detonator that had the droid facility in pieces as the shockwave was felt from as far as they were.

The shockwave had knocked most of the droids in the area offline and those that weren't were quickly dispatched of. All except one, which had snuck up on Ahsoka, Rex took aim but had no ammo and sprinted toward to tackle the droid to the ground. The scuffle had knocked Ahsoka to the ground causing her head to hit a rock and knocking her unconscious. Rex began pummeling the droid into the ground and took one final stomp to the mechanical head. He loaded up his blaster and fired one shot to make sure that the droid wouldn't be getting back up.

"Commander, are you alright?" Rex asked as he woke up the young Jedi Padawan

"No worse, than ever." She replied as more droids came over the horizon

_These clankers don't want to quit do they?_ Rex thought as he tossed more droid poppers in the general direction as the two of them had rolled behind separate covers.

After taking a few pot shots, Rex had no idea what had hit him when his chest was starting to feel warm. He looked down and saw blood pooling out of his chest plate, _Son of a…_ he thought as his vision was going blurry but was still clear enough to take down more droids.

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"What was that?" Cody asked as the ground started to rumble

Obi-Wan looked towards the horizon and saw smoke rising and knew if they blew the factory this early, something had gone wrong. He quickly ignited his lightsaber and sprinted off towards the direction of the smoke which caused Cody to grab his helmet and trot after General Kenobi.

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Despite being easily overwhelmed Ahsoka had pushed the droids back by herself wondering why Rex was firing. "Rex?" She yelled to try and get a response then tried her communicator but still got no response. She heard grunting come from a nearby piece of debris. She rushed over to find Rex trying to position himself to get more comfortable but to no avail.

"Rex!" She yelled as she dropped her gear and sprinted over and knelt beside him. She felt what seemed like blood on her leggings and saw blood pooling below him, took off his helmet and saw that he was pale from the blood loss. She always admired his bleached blonde hair and crystal blue eyes that stood out from the other clones in the army. She normally wouldn't react this way but Rex was someone different, she cared about him and admired over the fact of him doing whatever he could to protect her. She felt that he cared for her but never said anything to uphold his feelings.

He grunted another time as he coughed up blood this time, and she caught some of his but disregarded it "Leave me, get to the rendezvous." He ordered

"No, I'm not leaving you." She said

"Screw the chain of command. I told you to go." He ordered

She ignored him once more and tried to lift him up to get him to safety but all she heard were screams of agony which made her tear up "I'm not leaving you, I can't, not when I care for you." She said

Still writhing in pain, he thought about those very words, he was quickly losing blood and there was no way for Ahsoka to stop the bleeding "I know." Was all she managed to say before he had been unconscious from the blood loss.

"Rex?!" She shouted "Stay with me Rex!" she shouted again as droids had appeared over the ridge and were quickly closing in on the wounded clone and her Jedi Commander.


	2. Chapter 2

**_I'm really surprised about the positive reviews this had. This one wasn't as along as I wanted it to be but at least it's up and I'm just surprised I finished this soon. I don't think I did as good of a job writing this than I wanted to but that's up to you guys decide. The ending is a set up for the next chapter on The Battle Of Umbara, thanks for the positive reviews so far. If you see small grammatical errors I apologize, I'm just too lazy to go back and revise it. Read and enjoy :)_**

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Being in combat can take a toll on not just someone's body but their mind as well. Rex was as best as they come, battle-hardened and willing to do whatever needed to get the job done, all of his troops respected him immensely as well as his superiors. He learned how to be the best from his Jedi General, Anakin Skywalker, unfortunately Skywalker was in battle in space above the planet and he was wounded with Commander Tano beside him trying to do what she can to get him under control and stable.

"Rex!" Ahsoka continued to shout as Rex fell unconscious from his blood loss. A droid had gained the upper advantage and caught him off-guard eventually springing a blade into his abdomen but not before Rex put two rounds into the mechanical head of the sneaky droid. He appreciated all Commander Tano had done for him and he had tremendous feelings for her.

Ahsoka used the force to grab her lightsabers and ignited them as she began deflecting the droids away that seemed endless when suddenly the ground below her was starting to shake. She looked above her to see one of the gunships rain fire down upon the droids and saw Cody and Obi-Wan come up behind her. She holstered her lightsabers and rushed over to try and get Rex lifted onto the gunship. She had tears streaming down her face but kept her composure together for the most part. She tried to hop on board his gunship that was taking him back to the Resolute, but was denied by General Kenobi. Being one for the Jedi Code, Obi-Wan had set Ahsoka down to try and keep her calm.

She kept her cool during most missions but never expressed such emotion as she did now "I'm sorry master."

"For what Ahsoka, you did all you could for Rex." Obi-Wan said "Just remember 'There is no emotion, there is peace.' Don't let your emotions get the better of you." He said

She really wanted to just ball up and cry to her heart's desire but knew better to do that, while not fully an adult, she was old enough to start acting like one. She needed to be strong, for herself, for Rex and for her master. "Yes, master." She said as her tears died down and soon dissipated from her skin. She stood up and wiped the remaining tears from her face, she saw Cody and knew that he had to feel something too since him and Rex had done many missions with him.

After cleaning up the remaining straggler droids, everyone had headed back to their ships. It defiantly wasn't easy on the crew seeing Rex unconscious with blood pooling around his chest. The medics brought him to the med bay where they assured that Rex will make it and just for everyone to keep calm and focus on the mission ahead.

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He had to act, there was no way he was going to allow this slaver scum to get away with this. He knocked the nearest guard off his feet and unhooked his binders along with the rest of the prisoners with him. He sprinted to the command center to try and find the Commander. He keyed opened the door and quickly overwhelmed the guards with his superior military training, what he didn't see coming was the whip from behind that sent him on his knees in an instant.

He ignored the pain and punched the guard with the whip straight in the face. He shook off the dust he had attained from wrestling with the guards and looked what seemed to be the leader square in the eyes.

"You think you've won don't you?" He asked "Take a look outside." He said pointing towards the opening in the wall

Rex couldn't believe his eyes, Commander Tano and Generals Skywalker and Kenobi were standing on platforms, and little did Rex know what the platforms did. He took a step and saw ten of the Togrutan colonists fall into an abyss on the same platform that the three Jedi were standing on. He closed his eyes and wished this was all a dream but it wasn't, he had no choice.

He sank to his knees and surrendered himself to the slave leader as he was helpless and no way of defending himself and setting them free. If he made a move against the leader, the soldiers below would've killed his friends anyway. The guards threw his shock collar and binders back on and soon he joined the three of them below. The slave leader had apparently been negotiating with Count Dooku as he was brought up on a holomessage.

"General Kenobi," he began "General Skywalker, so fortunate to see the two of you locked up like the caged animals you are." Anakin was gritting his teeth vowing for revenge but the statement was moot considering his situation.

"I want the Jedi Generals and the clone captain brought to me for interrogation." Dooku said

"What about the other Jedi?" the leader had asked

Dooku smiled devilishly "Kill her."

Rex's eyes grew wide open as the slave leader pushed the button that sent her through the hole in the ground into the endless abyss, he tried to grab her but to no avail "Ahsoka!" Rex shouted as it was the first time he called her by her name instead of her rank as he saw her falling into the never ending darkness.

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"Commander!" Rex shouted as he sprang up from his bunk in the medical bay.

He looked around the room and saw Commander Tano in the chair next to him who had been startled by Rex's nightmare. He held his chest in pain as he laid back down as the instant jump had almost torn the stiches in his abdomen.

Ahsoka had been startled by Rex's nightmare but gathered herself when she found out that he was awake "Hey there, Rex." She said rubbing her eyes since she was still tired as she had spent the whole time at his side. "Everything okay there?" she asked

"Yeah, sorry I just had a bad dream." He said trying to drop as it he did not want to bring it up "What happened anyway, last thing I remember was feeling a sharp pain in my gut and passing out."

"A droid had took a shot at you with a knife, but you had apparently blew the things head off before you passed out. I did the best I could to stop the bleeding and hold us off before you passed out." She concluded

He smiled at her for trying her best to save his life even under the heaviest of circumstances "Thanks, Commander. I'm sure you did your best."

She smiled back at him "You know what you said to me before you passed out?"

_Oh god what did I say?_ He thought to himself "To be honest I don't know what I said ma'am."

She hung her head and frowned "Well, I said 'I can't leave you because of how much I care for you' and you said 'I know' before you went unconscious." She said still having her head hung down

_This just became awkward _he thought as the two of them were silent for a prolonged amount of time.

"I care for you Rex and I know you feel the same way but you just don't show it." She said raising her head back up to meet him eye to eye but he kept silent "If you feel the same way please, just at least say something or give me a sign."

Rex was still silent and had broken eye contact to look at his stitched up abdomen and burnt hand. Ahsoka had looked away and sank her head again "I'm sorry if I brought it up or if I put any pressure on you." She said getting up from her chair and heading to the door

_Say something stupid, she just opened up and you sat there like an idiot playing with his thumbs_ his conscience was telling him. He really didn't want to see the Commander like this but his conscience was right, he had to say at least something. "I'm sorry, Commander." He said as Ahsoka stopped and turned back around "This will just be hard if we do this. It won't be safe out there, with our separate duties, your stupid code forbidding it, and I can get thrown in the brig for fraternizing with a superior officer."

"First off, I'm a Jedi and I don't think your regulations apply to Jedi." She said

_Just like General Skywalker to bend the rules. _He thought, he did admire the way she took after master.

She walked back to him and sat beside him "Listen, we can make this work. I'll leave the order if that's it requires." She said

"No." Rex said in a tone of authority "You can't just leave the Jedi Order because the code doesn't permit it. They need you, and what of General Skywalker, what will he think if that happens?"

She clearly hadn't thought about that and sat there in more grief "Anakin will understand. I'm sure of it."

"No." he said once more "It doesn't matter, I won't allow it." Ahsoka looked at him then back at the floor "I don't want to leave the place you can call home just so we can be together." _Dohh, wrong word there nimrod_ his conscience said once more.

"All you need to do is say that feel the same way." She said

Rex held his head high and shut his eyes tightly but opened them back up to look her in the eyes "Listen kid," he said "I do care for you but this isn't the best of situations to be discussing this."

As if fireworks exploded in her heart, she smiled with joy and looked back at him "That's all I needed." She said standing up "We can take it one step at a time." Ahsoka said giving him a kiss on the cheek "Now get some rest, we'll have a tough mission ahead of us." She finished as she got up and left the room leaving Rex in the med bay by himself, except for the medical droid.

He was left staring up at the overhead with his mind having fights inside itself as the med droid had come over to take a look and make sure he didn't tear or rupture his stiches. _I hope she knows what she's knows what she's doing, because if she doesn't then I can find myself thrown in the brig. _

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_One more _he muttered to himself as he was he was still wounded but well enough to get back into shape. He didn't like waiting to recover, the more time he spent sitting in a bed catching z's more of his brothers were dying out there. He exercised and got back into shape despite not being in the best physical condition, with his fatigue pants on and no shirt since he still had the bandage wrapped around his stomach it made for easier mobility for some physical training.

He had his legs propped up on his bunk in the med bay while leaning off onto the floor to do push-ups. There wasn't much room to maneuver but he made do with what he had around him. He finished his final pushup and propped himself back onto his bunk, drenching in sweat. He went back to Ahsoka said earlier, he still didn't think telling her was a good idea but if he knew anything about Ahsoka, she loved to argue and won't quit until she wins. It felt weird to him that he opened up like that, he wasn't normally the one to kiss and tell, no pun intended, but he preferred to action rather than talking.

General Skywalker keyed open the door to the med bay and as soon as Rex saw him, he practically jumped off the bed and snapped to attention, much to the displeasure of his body, but he learned that pain is weakness leaving the body. "At ease, Captain." Anakin said "How are you feeling Rex?"

"Could be worse sir." Rex said "I'm ready for combat whenever you need me General."

"Are you sure, I don't the stiches coming loose and seeing you insides on the battlefield."

"I'm not going to let a cut hold me back sir." Rex said

Anakin looked at him and smirked "Good, now suit up and meet me on the bridge ASAP." He said walking over to the door before turning back around "Oh, and Rex?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Take a shower." He said leaving the room. Rex looked at himself in the mirror and took a sniff and almost vomited at the smell of himself.

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He stepped out of the shower and threw on his armor and slowly made his way up to the bridge. He opened the doors and saw Anakin, Ahsoka and Admiral Yularen standing around the holoterminal talking to General Kenobi, Commander Cody, General Windu, and General Yoda.

"Good to see you finally up and about Rex." Cody said with a smile behind his helmet

He was given a respectful nod by Master Windu and Yoda "Nice to see you too Commander." Rex said "What's the plan here General?" he said looking at Anakin

"We're taking the planet of Umbara." Anakin said

"This is a major supply route that we need." General Windu interjected "The local militia forces have allied themselves with the Separatists and are getting supplies such as food and weaponry from them. Your task is to take the capital city and hold it, once we take it we can efficiently cut off the supply routes to the rest of the planet. General Skywalker and General Kenobi will brief more on the mission, good luck." He said before ending his transmission.

Anakin had summoned his forces in the hanger bay to await further instructions, he had ARC-5555 on special assignment in his battalion but let Obi-Wan handle the briefing.

"Masters Krell and Tiin will be supporting my troops to the south while Anakin's battalion comes in from the north and takes out enemy reinforcements." He explained on the holomap of the area "It is imperative that we take the capital city as quickly as possible and hold it. We can't afford a retreat on this one."

"The biggest problem is going to be the local militia," Anakin said interjecting "The Umbarans have allied themselves with the Seperatists and are heavily armed, we cannot underestimate them. ARC trooper Fives will be assisting my battalion on special assignment."

Fives and Rex had shared a mutual respect for each ever since the Rishii moon where Rex considered Fives, Echo, and Hevy "Shinnies", ever since then the two of them had fought numerous times together and built a repertoire as being very deadly by themselves. "I'm ready to do my part General Skywalker." Fives said

"Good to have you on board Fives." Rex said

"Thanks Rex, how are you feeling?"

"Nothing I can't handle, it'll be just like old times." Rex said as he let Anakin and Obi-Wan finish the debriefing

"Remember Anakin, Cody and I will be twelve clicks to your south." Obi-Wan continued "We are counting on you to take out those local fighters, if you don't I'm afraid the capital will never surrender."

Anakin just looked back at Obi-Wan with a fake sigh along with a smirk to go with it "Does my battalion have to do everything?"

"It seems you always do anyway." He said ending his transmission.

Rex had stopped Anakin before he got into the gunship "Sir, isn't Commander Tano coming along with us?" he asked. He had to ask since she had been with them on almost every mission since Teth all those years ago.

"She is, Rex." Anakin said before stepping into his gunship "She'll be riding along in your shuttle."

It had somehow brought a smile to his face behind his helmet as he knew if they were in the same shuttle he could at least look after her in case something went wrong "Alright, get into your gunships, let's move it!" he shouted as the group disbanded and everyone headed for their ships as the ground battle of Umbara was about to begin.

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Getting through the atmosphere was one thing, landing on the planet was something else altogether. It had been called the Shadow World for a reason, sunlight could not directly pierce the dense clouds in the atmosphere. Even with the spotlights on the gunships landing was going to be difficult with the heavy flak from the turrets.

"Sir, there's too much flak for us to land!" the pilot shouted as he as doing his best to dodge the incoming flak from the tanks

"Send in the walkers to destroy the tanks." Anakin said as the back door of the troop ship opened up and one of the clones hopped on the walker which in turn jumped out of the gunship and landed on the surface.

The walkers had been deployed and without hesitation, moved out to take out the tanks, the remaining Umbarans tried to retreat but were crushed under the walker's path on their way to the landing zone to meet up with Captain Rex and General Skywalker. The dropships landed and Skywalkers battalion was on the ground moving towards the capital city as instructed.

"Move it! Move it! Let's go!" Rex shouted as he along with Commander Tano advanced on the Umbarans dug in along the ridge. Despite being heavily outnumbered by the Republic forces, the local militia was doing a very respectable job of keeping them at bay for the time being before falling back.

"Rex, I want that trench taken so we can have a staging point for our assault on the capital city." Anakin said over his communicator

Rex still firing at the shadow warriors was able to reply "Roger that sir." He said "Alright boys! Let's secure that ridge!"

All of the soldiers began pushing forward and pushing the Umbarans back every step, what the clones hadn't encountered were the local wildlife. While they were advancing, one of the clones had apparently thought he tripped over a vine. In reality it wasn't a vine, it was in fact a tentacle that had been disturbed and lifted one of the clones out of the air and left him dangling over a the mouth of the being.

"That's just not right!" Hardcase shouted as he took his assault cannon and immediately began firing

The being had taken Rex up into the air and swung him around until he took a grenade form his pouch and threw into another tentacle _Eat that_ he thought as the beast swallowed the grenade and blew to pieces.

_Oomph _Rex said as he hit the ground hard again, he felt a hand take him by the shoulder and lift him up and saw it was Ahsoka "You know for once it wasn't you throwing me to the ground this time."

She just smiled and went back to taking back the ridge "Thanks Fives." One of the clones said

"Hardcase right?" Fives asked

"That's they call me." Hardaces said gathering his cannon and moving forward to take the ridge.

The Umbarans were all but fled from the ridge, a few stragglers but nothing that the 501st couldn't handle. Anakin's battalion had secured the ridge and were preparing for the next assault on the capital itself, Rex had given him the binoculars but with the dense fog surrounding the ground, it close to impossible to make out the next twenty meters.

"The battalion is ready and able sir." One of the clones said walking up behind Rex and Anakin.

The two looked at the clone and back at each other "Very good, go get some rest Dogma." Rex said turning back around

"I'm fine sir." He replied instantly

"That wasn't a suggestion trooper." Rex replied coldly

Dogma turned back around to the rest of the battalion, Ahsoka had made her way up from the back of the pack to talk to Rex and Anakin "He's a little tight wound but he's a loyal soldier."

Anakin smirked and looked back at Rex handing him the binoculars back "He reminds me a little of you."

Even Ahsoka grinned at her master's statement, sure Rex had been created along the same time as the rest of the clones but even he had a little personality and flexibility for being in command. While by the book soldier, Rex believed that experience outranks everything in combat. One who has not led in combat before should not led in combat until physically and mentally ready, he had learned this from being under General Skywalker since Christophsis. Ahsoka had hung around Rex long enough to pick on how he leads and has even learned how to lead troops into battle with their heads held high. "Maybe, back in the day." Rex replied

While most of the Umbarans had retreated a few had actually flanked the Republic troopers without them knowing about it, they had waited for the perfect time to strike and knew if they caused confusion they could easily pin down the Republic. They took their chance while everyone was resting and let loose a technology not known by the Republic and sent after the troopers in the trenches. One of them had caught sight of it and tried to open fire but got shocked and was killed. With one the clones dead the rest began to open fire on the unsuspecting clones in the trenches, panic had ensued and no one knew what to do than grab the nearest rifle and begin firing. Blaster fire had been heard which caught the attention of Rex, Anakin, and Ahsoka.

"They're behind us!" one of the troopers shouted before trying to mount a walker but was easily cut down before he got anywhere.

No one had a clue on what to do, Ahsoka had cut down the tech that had been shocking the troopers and killing them "General, if we can over to the other side of the ridge, we can the bombers to blow this place to smitherines."

"Good plan, Rex." Anakin said "Everyone out of the trenches now and head toward the ridge!"

Everyone who had not been snuck up on had sprinted toward the ridge, Fives and Rex included "Oddball this Rex, we need a bombing run on mark zero dot two ten look for the green smoke." Rex said as he tossed a smoke grenade into the trench and cheesed it to the other side of the ridge. The Umbarans had stopped firing when they saw no more clones in the trench but immediately tried to retreat when they saw the bomber overhead drop ordnance on them.

One of the gunships had landed not far from their position, not expecting any reinforcements, Skywalker was curious to find out why General Krell was meeting him.

"Is that who I think it is?" Fives whispered to Rex

"Master Krell, what an unexpected surprise." Anakin said walking up to greet the esteemed Jedi Master

Jedi Master Pong Krell is an esteemed Jedi by his peers but his strength in combat is what concerns most people. He has the single highest casualty rate of any other General in the war, which makes Rex, Fives and the other clones a little bit uneasy of what is about to happen next.

"The Jedi Council has ordered you back to Courascant." Krell said "Effective immediately."

"Wait why?" Anakin asked

The look the clones faces behind their helmets certainly did not boost morale if their General was leaving "They wouldn't say." Krell replied

"I can't just leave my men." Anakin said

"Don't worry about it master. Rex and I can handle this." Ahsoka interjected looking back at Rex and smiling

Krell didn't want to take the chance of having a Padawan and clone take command of a battalion "I'm afraid not." He said "The council has asked that I take over from here."

_This is going to be bad_ Rex thought to himself, "With all due respect General Skywalker, this is for the best."

"You're right Rex, as much as I don't like this, you're right. Master Krell, this is Captain Rex, my second in command, you won't find a more loyal dedicated clone. And this is my Padawan, Ahsoka Tano." Anakin said as he boarded the gunship and left.

Fives still did not have a good feeling about this but kept his mouth shut for good reason, "It really is an honor General." Rex said

"Stand at attention when you address me Captain." Krell said walking past him, Rex hadn't really been big on formalities with General Skywalker in charge but apparently Krell did.

"I want this battalion packed up and ready to move on the double." Krell said walking away from him and Ahsoka.

She scoffed at his arrogance "What a real charmer." She said

"I still don't like this one bit." Fives said to Rex and Ahsoka

"Neither do I but we have to deal with it until General Skywalker gets back." Rex stated

"I'll listen to your and Commander Tano's orders, not his." Fives said walking away

The two of them sighed and looked at each other "I have a feeling that this isn't going to end well." Ahsoka said as the 501st was ready to move out.


	3. Chapter 3

_**I know it's not as long as I wanted to make it again but I wanted to separate The Battle of Umbara into different chapters. Sorry for the long update, I was busy with finals at school and I kind of had a little writer's block trying to progress this story. I know that some are waiting patiently for a new update and again I apologize, but I hope you guys equally like this as well :D**_

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Rex, Fives, and Ahsoka clearly had no idea what they were up against with being under the command of Jedi General Master Pong Krell. The three of them each disagreed with Krell taking over command, Fives and most of the other clones had believed that Rex and Ahsoka were capable of keeping the battalion in order. Krell, having the single highest casualty rate out of all the Commanding Officers was worrisome to all those that had served under him. Fives knew he needed to do something but the only problem was timing and when to act, he kept quiet and did as he was told like a good clone.

"Alright, boys." Rex said throwing his helmet back on and Ahsoka had tightened her lightsabers around her sash "Pack it up, it's time to move."

He heard a few of the clones groan, it was the words that every infantryman dreaded hearing. Taking a rest after a hard fought skirmish and moving out was painful on the troops, the rest of the battalion was just ready to head towards the capital which needed to be secured or the planet will never surrender.

The 501st Legion had moved out and began their long hike towards the Umbaran capital city. Their patrol was uneventful other than a few of the local wildlife and fauna coming to life alerted by the clone's presence, Rex and Fives were talking amongst each other when he noticed two of the flying creatures getting ever so close to their patrol.

He reached for his side arms and opened fire on the creatures, as did the rest of the battalion but to no avail as the creatures had whizzed past the blaster fire and picked up a few unlucky clones to carry them off. Krell had heard the racket and ignited both of his double-bladed lightsabers, Ahsoka ignited both of hers and trailed after Krell towards the gunfire. Krell had taken a few steps at a running start and jumped on to one of the fauna that propelled him onto the creature that had dropped the clone.

The clone landed and didn't have a scratch on him other than the wind being knocked out of him from being dropped. Krell had ignited his lightsaber and the creature dropped to the ground, Ahsoka had leaped up and sliced the other in half that had also dropped one of the clones unlucky enough to get grabbed.

Krell had walked over to the one that he had slain and stomped on its cranium as it let one final screech "Anyone else want to stop and play with the animals?" Krell barked

Fives and Rex had helped one of the clones recover from the long drop that he took and looked at Krell with looks of disgust. Ahsoka had scouted ahead and reported back to Krell "The path looks clear for now, Master." She said as she trotted over to help up the second clone that had taken a fall from the creature that she had slain.

With a look of dissent on his face he scoffed at the clones "I thought so, now move out." He said as he continued along the trail that led to the main road of the capital.

Rex looked around at his men, they were weary but they were ready to get their objectives done, even it meant having to take orders from General Krell.

"This isn't going to end well." Ahsoka muttered again

"What was that Padawan Tano?" Krell asked

"Nothing Master Krell." She replied trying to cover up what she had said. She had taken the side of Rex and Fives on this matter that Krell being in command was a disaster waiting to happen.

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"This is main road leading up to the capital." Krell said "Captain, you are going to march your troops straight up the middle towards the capital." Turning back around to look at the Captain

Rex's face almost exploded with irritation as he and every other damn clone under his command knew they were walking into a slaughter "Sir, with all due respect." Rex said "General Skywalker's plan was to send two small squads ahead to ambush the Umbarans on either side of the road sir."

Krell was clearly furious at Rex's disobedience "Skywalker's plan had involved us taking up precious time and we need to secure the capital now, the other battalions are counting us. Time is of the essence." Krell ordered

Rex still didn't want to go through with the General Krell's plan but he knew that if he didn't he would be court-martialed and most likely executed for disobeying a direct order. He scrunched up his face in anger as he wanted to lash out but again he would be thrown in the same boat as not following through. "Yes sir. I'll get the men ready."

He walked back his troops where Ahsoka was talking with Fives but stopped when they saw Rex.

"What's the plan, Rex?" Fives asked but Rex didn't answer just kept his head down and his eyes closed "What is it Rex?"

He lifted his head to greet Ahsoka and Fives "The General wants us to disregard Skywalker's plan and head up the main road to the city."

"Rex you can't be serious, that'll be a massacre." Ahsoka interjected "You have to do something." She said

"Like what?" Rex asked almost violently "There's nothing I can do." He said "Fives, have the men prepare for the assault on the capital." Rex finally said calmly and walked away

Ahsoka and Fives looked at each other then back at Rex who was walking back to Krell. Neither of them wanted to be a part of it and they both knew that it was a suicide plan.

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Rex had his battalion ready for the slaughter that was about to unfold under Krell's leadership, each of the clones knew that this was the worst plan they've ever heard but they followed their clone captain into battle anyway.

"Master, the battalion is ready to move out." Ahsoka said

"Very good, tell them to move." Krell said barely acknowledging the Padawan "We've wasted enough time already." He said as Ahsoka gave Rex the signal and prepare to move out as she grabbed her lightsabers and headed towards Rex's position.

Krell stopped her before she could even move "Where do you think you're going Padawan?" he asked

Ahsoka was stopped in her tracks "I'm going to help out Rex and his men Master."

"CT-7567 and ARC-5555 can handle themselves, you're staying here." Krell said

"But…" Ahsoka said before Krell interrupted her

"Are you questioning my orders, Padawan Tano?" Krell said "I understand Master Skywalker does not exactly hold up to my ideals but I am in charge and you will follow my orders Padawan. Do I make myself clear?"

"Of course, Master Krell." She said before walking back and standing by him at his side, giving him a snide look when he wasn't looking.

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"Alright, here goes nothing." Rex said to himself before throwing on his helmet. "Let's move out boys!" He bellowed as his battalion headed down the treacherous path that led to the capital.

The brave men of the 501st had made it about a quarter of the way before the capital before the ground had exploded and killed a few of the clones. "Mines, watch your step." Rex said as he motioned for the demolitions expert to scan the walkway for mines and made sure that they didn't have any more incidents. Making it another quarter of the road was where they were ready to encounter more resistance.

One blaster shot was all that was needed to cause chaos on a massive scale; the Umbarans had snuck up the unsuspecting clones and were for now encircling them, making sure there was nowhere to go.

Crazed and confused, the clone troopers were now opening fire on anything that moved in the brush. There was little to no cover on the path and the clones on the walkers were getting cut down faster than they could count, dwindling their numbers slowly but surely.

"Rex there is no cover here!" Fives shouted as he was returning fire "We have to fall back before we get overwhelmed!" The Umbarans had cleared from their position in the trees and were getting up close enough for the clones to engage them in hand to hand combat.

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Smoke had begun to appear over the horizon that Krell and Ahsoka saw. Krell was furious to see one of the clones on the main road begin retreating.

"Master, shouldn't we assist?" Ahsoka asked Krell

"No, so help them if they continue to retreat I will kill them myself. They will hold their position." Krell said as he keyed up his communicator "Captain Rex, come in." he said as he saw Rex appear on holo "What is going on CT-7567?"

Rex was still fending off the attacking Umbarans "Sir, we're outnumbered, we have to retreat!" he shouted

"No!" Krell bellowed "You will hold you position and advance on the capital immediately!" he said ending the holo

Ahsoka couldn't believe her eyes as she saw clones getting butchered and Krell was sitting here expecting them to finish the objective, she knew that she had do something if the clones we going to survive. She would never forgive herself by going behind Master Krell's back but her master taught her that sometimes she would have to go outside the box to get the job done. She fixed her lightsabers and her boots and snuck away from Krell when he wasn't looking.

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Rex was knocked over but punched the Umbaran that had knocked him over straight in the mask which gave Rex a clear shot on his face and launched a single blaster. Rex knew that if he fell back, he would never hear the end of it from Krell and would most likely be cut down where he stood. _I'm so going to get crap for this_ Rex thought

"Fall back!" Rex shouted "We need to lure them to the mines!" he said as the troops began to make a b-line for the mine field road. Fives was doing his best to bring the wounded away from the action but it wasn't enough as more were falling and he didn't have enough time to save his fellow brothers. Rex was still taking pot shots in the general direction at the advancing Umbarans, before Rex was able to set up his ambush along the roads, he heard the distinguishing sound of two lightsabers igniting and saw Ahsoka leap over his troops and began deflecting blaster bolts while pushing the Umbarans back down the road. Rex had motioned for his men to follow closely behind Ahsoka as she pushed the enemy back to the trees.

After the last one was away and off the main road, she rendezvoused with Rex and his men. "How bad are the casualties, Rex?" she asked

"They would've been worse if you hadn't stepped in, Commander." Rex said looking around trying to aid the wounded

Fives caught sight of Krell walking up to Ahsoka and Rex "Now, we're gonna hear it." He muttered

"Just stay quiet, I'll handle it." Rex said as Krell approached the three of them with a look of calmness on his face

He didn't say a word but just looked at the three of them for a few moments "Captain, I thought I gave you a direct order not to fall back." Krell said coldly

"Sir, with all due respect we didn't have the manpower nor the cover to take them head on." Rex said

"When I give you an order, I expect you to follow it to the letter." Krell said looking back at Ahsoka "And you Padawan, I thought I told you to sit back and not get involved."

She was quiet as she wasn't sure what to say but luckily Fives was able to speak for her "With all due respect, General." Fives interjected coldly "If it wasn't for her, most of us wouldn't be here for you to scold at. If anything she deserves some praise for standing up for her soldiers and not sitting on her ass from behind the battle." He said "Sir."

Krell really wanted to pick the smart-mouthed clone up his scrawny head and pummel him into the ground but held back and thought it be best only to intimidate him by drawing his lightsaber and igniting it, forcing Fives to back into a wall. "If I wanted your opinion, I would've asked for it ARC Trooper 5555." He said getting dangerously close to the ARC Trooper

Krell had him backed into a wall, there was nothing anyone could do and Fives just replied with another one of his smart ass answers "Of course, sir." he said before Krell holstered his lightsaber and walking back to Rex.

The two of them were eye to eye before one of the other clones had interjected between them "Sir, General Kenobi is on holo."

"Thank you, Sergeant." Krell said before walking away from the trio to converse with Obi-Wan via holo.

"I thought I told you to keep your trap shut, Fives." Rex said giving Fives a mouthful "Thanks to you, you almost got yourself killed and I would've been down my best man."

"Don't give me that, Rex." Fives shot back "You know damn well that someone needed to stand up for the Commander. She doesn't deserve to get chewed out for saving our lives."

Ahsoka kept silent the whole time "It doesn't matter, Fives. The Commander is strong enough to stand up for herself. We can't interfere in Jedi affairs." Rex said

"Are you listening to yourself? Jedi affairs? Surely you can't be serious." Fives shot back once again "I don't even think you can see what he is doing. When the time comes, I'm gonna act on it before he gets us all killed. I want to live to see the end of the war and I certainly know you do." He said as Rex looked at Ahsoka and she looked back at him "I'm not going to die on a battlefield because some General can't get his act together. I'll do what it takes to survive, the only question is are you willing to do what it takes." Fives concluded as he walked off to tend to the wounded.

The Captain and the Padawan were both silent for a few minutes thinking about Fives had said. Fives was right, he wanted to see to the end of the war and possibly have something with Ahsoka, if the Jedi don't forbid it first. The two cared for each other and both wanted happiness for each other but how much is Rex going to put on the line for her.

[][][][][][]

"Master Krell, can you read me?" Obi-Wan said as the connection was a little bit unstable

"I read you Master Kenobi. How are you holding up?" Krell asked

"Not well, the Umbarans have a local airbase that they're using for resupply to the capital." Obi-Wan said "Your battalion needs to take out that airbase if we have any chance of securing the capital."

Krell looked around and saw the wounded clones on the ground "Of course, Master Kenobi. It will be done."

"Very well. May the Force be with you." Obi- Wan said before concluding the holocall.

Krell saw the perfect opportunity to inflict his maximum casualties on the clones as he studied the terrain.

[][][][][][]

"Fives is right Rex." Ahsoka said as she and Rex were discussing about what was being done to ensure the safety of his fellow clones

"I'm more worried about what Krell is going to do to you." Rex said "Jumping against Krell's orders is not something you should be doing."

"You don't have to be worrying about me, Rexie. I can handle myself, you're the one who taught me that." Ahsoka said smiling slightly back at the Captain before he knelt down to check the wounded. "Master Skywalker told me that every plan is flawed, it is only how you deal with the flawed plan." She said walking away

Krell had caught sight of Rex and ordered him over to his position "What is it, General?"

"Prepare your troops to move out, we have an airbase to take out that is decimating Master Kenobi's forces."

"Right away, sir." Rex said throwing his helmet on and gathering what troops he had remaining.

[][][][][][]

None of the clones could believe their ears about what they heard to secure the airfield "Rex, you can't be serious. There has to be another way." Fives protested

"I'm sorry, Fives, I studied the schematics myself and there is no other way." Rex said

"No, there is always another way. I didn't believe Krell was trying to get us killed, but I'm starting to think he just hates clones." Fives shouted

"All of you are crazy, General Krell obviously knows what he is doing." Dogma said speaking up to support Krell as he had done during this whole conflict much to the displeasure of his fellow clones

There were a few that hated Dogma because how much of a kiss up he was to General Krell "Quiet, Dogma." Jesse said

Rex saw that most of the clones were inspired by Fives motivation against Krell and had possibly rallied a few to his cause "Fives, let me speak to you." Rex said taking Fives aside from the ears of the common soldiers

"I know your displeasure with Krell on how he commands." Rex said

"Displeasure? It's more than that, I downright hate his guts because of the way he treats us and his reckless plans." Fives protested

Rex was sure that Fives would pull something it was only a matter of time of when he would "If I remember correctly, most of General Skywalker's plans seemed reckless at the time, but we still went along with it."

"That's because of two reasons." Fives shot back "Normally he's leading from the front instead of sitting at the rear like Krell, and it's the fact that Skywalker cares about the health and strength of his clones."

Clearly distraught, a mutiny was not something that was needed right now "Listen, Fives I know that you're pissed off right now but you need to stow it. Splitting the troops is not something that we need right now, I need you to keep your mouth shut and follow orders."

"So you want me to blindly walk into a massacre with the rest of the men." Fives asked "That's not normal and you know it."

"I follow my orders, and do what I'm told." Rex said walking away

"Is that what you want to think or is that you were programmed to think?" Fives concluded as he walked away dreary towards the massacre that awaited.

[][][][][][]

"Captain are your troops ready?" Krell asked

"As ready as they are going to be." Rex said on the communicator "Just waiting on the order to move out."

"Proceed with the assault." Krell said

[][][][][][]

Rex looked around at his troops, each of them would follow their Captain into battle but it was only a matter of time before they had taken up arms with Fives to overthrow Krell's tyranny but for now they followed orders "All set, Hardcase?"

"I'm always ready." Hardcase said as he picked up his auto-cannon as he is always looking for a fight

Rex took a look at Fives "Fives, are you ready?"

He was silent as he stared off into the landscape from behind his helmet and knew that this was most likely a suicide mission "Yeah, I'm ready."

"Let's move out." Rex said as his troops packed up and moved out towards the airbase that was crucial to the capture of the capital. Krell had two platoons in reserve that he did not want to use but would if he absolutely needed to. The plan that everyone had dreaded was Rex would have two squads march right up and exposed area that would most certainly cause tremendous casualties. Unlike the fiasco on the road towards the capital, this trail had sufficient cover but it's not like it would matter since if Krell saw one hint of retreat, well it wouldn't go over well for Rex and his troops.

Ahsoka had stayed behind to tend to the wounded and to make sure she didn't go against Krell's orders as well. She knew Anakin would understand what she had done, but it was disrespectful to disobey a Master of the Jedi Order. She had a similar incident back on Felucia a few years back where her convoy was advancing on a droid's patrol. Little did she knew that the patrol she had on the run was regrouping with the main force that had driven Obi-Wan and Anakin from their positions. When ordered to fall back she refused, the only solution was to place their gunships in front of her convoy to stop her advance. After still refusing, Anakin ordered her onto his gunship, as they retreated back to their capital ships, Ahsoka had seen the rest of her convoy overrun and blown to bits.

She had taken after her Master's teaching style, unfortunately it wasn't always the best solution. Going against Krell's orders she had saved more than seventy percent of Rex's battalion, without her most of them might not have made it. Sometimes it paid off, other times it didn't.

"You're going to be alright, trooper." Ahsoka said as she wrapped up the clones mangled leg as she helped the medics load him into the gunships.

She had looked off into the horizon that was still dark beyond belief but she had high hopes for Rex and Fives to lead the rest of them out of this alive.

[][][][][][]

"Keep your eyes open boys." Rex said as his patrol was almost near the airbase when blaster fire had erupted from the south, Rex motioned for his men to move and catch up to find the source.

The Umbarans had ambushed Fives' squad but they were holding well enough for Rex to back track his way towards Fives' position. They pushed the Umbarans back into the darkness before the ground below them started shaking.

"That in the san hell name is that?" Hardcase shouted as three worm looking transports exploded from underneath them and began cutting down the troopers where they stood.

Blaster bolts had deflected off like they were nothing "Bring up the rockets!" Rex bellowed as he still fired at the transports that had ambushed them. The rockets were brought in no time, the only problem was being able to find someone to fire them, the clones bringing up the rockets were getting cut down to bits. When one of them had become clear, the clone took aim and fired at the orb that was on the center of the transport and blew it to smithereens. The other three had cornered Hardcase's squad that had been pinned down, Rex's and Fives' squads had made their way to Harcase's position which gave Rex a perfect idea.

"Give me some detonators." Rex said as one of the clones trotted up and turned around for Rex to get some out of his pack.

"What are you thinking Rex?" Fives asked

"If we lay the detonators on a timer, we can lead them right through the bottleneck and blow them kingdom come. Now come on we only have a few seconds before they find us." Rex said as he and a few of the other clones rolled thermal detonators in the way of the bottleneck while a few others got their attention and within minutes, the detonators had been triggered and each of the transports went down with ease. "Time to move out." Rex said as his clones started to make their way back to the airbase.


	4. Chapter 4

**_I know this is extremely late but I hope everyone had a good holiday. I'm sorry for updating late but as I said before, I was really busy after Christmas. I figure I turn this into one large chapter that could have been split into three different chapters but what's the fun in that lol._**

**_I had a lot of time to write this since I'm sitting at home in the middle of winter storm Janus that stomped on the Northeast and figure I'd be at home for the next few days while the snow clears so I hope to get at least another chapter up by the end of the week._**

**_The ending leaves a little to be desired but that's because I wanted to get this done and uploaded, again I apologize for the late update but hopefully this satisfies all of you. Ready and enjoy :D_**

* * *

"This is just getting unbelievable." Jesse muttered "I mean sending us on two straight suicide missions is unheard of by any Commanding Officer."

Fives had looked at Jesse then back at Rex, Rex had told him to keep his opinions to himself, things were tense as it was and having a mutiny on their hands would not go over well. After getting ambushed by transport vehicles from under the ground, their assault to the airbase was temporally halted. The ground had begun to shake again, and the look on the troopers face was sheer terror.

Three large vehicles had broken through the brush and blasted at the patrol, the clones began opening fire but to no avail. The tanks had fired up a large cannon that propelled towards the clone patrol and disintegrated anything it hit. Rex ordered up to bring in the rocket launchers but the rockets had propelled towards it and only bounced off the orb in the center.

"You've got to be kidding me…" Rex muttered under his breath and keyed up his communicator to Krell.

"What is it CT-7567?" Krell asked

"Sir, the Umbarans have heavy tanks that our rockets can't pierce." Rex shouted as he dove to avoid a piece of debris "We need reinforcements and air support."

Krell clearly wanted to punish Rex for his incompetence "Captain, you will take down those tanks and advance towards the airbase. You will not retreat or take a step back and that is final." Krell said hanging up

Ahsoka who overheard the conversation while aiding the wounded clones _I can't believe how arrogant he is, I really need to do something_ she said tying her boots and tightening her lightsabers around her sash. She looked back up and saw Krell standing over "Going somewhere, Padawan?"

"No, master." She said as he walked back over to the ledge overlooking the brush where he observed Rex's battalion

"Should we send in troops to reinforce the Captain's position?" The clone sergeant asked

"Negative, Sergeant Appo. You will send in the reinforcements when I say to." Krell said

[][][][][][]

"How can Krell not be doing anything?" Fives shouted as he continued to fire pointlessly at the incoming Umbaran tanks

Clones had been falling all around them, Fives had set up a makeshift camp and were gathering the wounded before Rex had stopped him. "Fives, there's no more you can do for them." Rex said

"What?! How can you say that?!" Fives shouted "You can't just leave our brothers behind."

"There's nothing more we can do for them." Rex said turning back around "We mourn our brothers later, the best we can do is ease their suffering for the time being, I don't like it any more than you do."

"Like hell you don't." Fives muttered under his breath

Fives was really aggravated by Rex's position on the matter, he turned back around only to hear the screams of his brothers and the stomping of the tanks that were on their way towards them. He turned back to face Rex and took off his helmet and threw it against the nearby tree. He let Fives blow off some steam before he gathered himself as Rex had observed the general direction of the airbase and got an idea. "Fives, do you still feel like going out on your own mission?"

He clearly had no idea by what Rex meant but gathered up his belongings anyway.

[][][][][][]

"I'd prefer a straight fight instead of all this sneaking around." Hardcase said

Fives scoffed at Hardcase's comment, Rex had sent Fives and Hardcase on a covert stealth mission to commandeer Umbaran fighters from the nearby airbase the rest of the battalion was sent to capture but was pinned down by Umbaran forces in tanks. The rockets used by the 501st were practically useless against the ray-shielded tanks, so instead of blowing the tanks to pieces they had to stick with running and gunning.

"Ease up, Hardcase, no need to go in guns blazing every single damn time." Fives said as the two still made their way stealthily towards the airbase.

"It's not my fault, my trainer said that my genetic thingy was higher than normal." Hardcase said

Fives scoffed "Genetic thingy?"

"Bite me." Hardcase said as the two had reached the barrier of the airbase

The two of them both studied and realized it was an electrified and would probably fry the two clones if they got two close to it, Fives looked up and around and in idea popped into his head "I have an idea," he said as he took detonators out of his pack and placed them at different intervals around the base of the tree. Fives handed Hardcase with the tow cable sprung into the barrel, "Fire the towcable towards the highest branch, climb it, and use the leverage from the tree to bring you back down. Simple as that." Fives said as he smirked from behind his helmet as he finished setting up the detonators.

"Simple as that, my ass." Hardcase said as he shot the blaster cable towards one of the higher branches and began his ascent up the tree.

[][][][][][]

"What is your status, Captain Rex?" Krell asked via holo communicator

"I've sent two of my best men to secure the airbase and commandeer two of their fighters." Rex said

Again, irritated by the clone captains incompetence "You did what?!" He shouted almost breaking his communicator within this hand "I told you to secure the airbase not hold your hopes on two clones to pilot enemy fighters and destroy the tanks. You will pick up your blaster and march straight into that airbase."

Ahsoka was standing beside him watching the disaster unfold, he caught sight if her and looked at her which caused Krell to look back at her as well "With all due respect, General." Rex replied coldly "Our weapons cannot pierce the ray shields on their tanks. If anything, my two men are the only hope that any of us have for surviving this, so do me a favor and cut me some frakking slack, and let me do what I do best." Rex said ending his transmission

"How dare that clone." Krell muttered under his breath as he stomped off

"Well done, Rexie." Ahsoka said when Krell walked away

[][][][][][]

Hardcase had made it over the barrier and was now waiting for Fives to get his clone rear end down there. He looked up to find Fives struggling with one of the fauna that had irritated his squad earlier in the campaign. Hardcase had fired his tow cable into the beast ending its life. Fives pushed the beast aside and did a somersault over the branch, landing next to Hardcase and smirking.

"Nice moves, Fives. You might even make it as a Jedi." Hardcase said jokingly

"Quiet, Hardcase. We need to get focused on the fighters." Fives said trotting over to the nearest starfighter and breaking the neck of a local Umbaran.

After assassinating the lone native by the starfighters, he took out his detonator and triggered his explosives around the nearby tree. Between the shockwave and the tree falling over and disrupting the forcefield surrounding the airbase, chaos had ensued with every Umbaran heading towards the sight and sound of the explosion.

[][][][][][][]

"Alright boys, all we need to do now is hold off until Fives and Hardcase get back with those fighters." Rex said putting his helmet back on

"With all due respect, Captain, what did General Krell have to say about all this?" Jesse interjected double-checking his weapon

Rex was lying but he knew that most of his troops will believe him, well mostly "He had nothing to say on the matter."

Dogma, who was the loyal one to Krell out of the battalion kept his mouth shut and double-checked his weapon

"All we need to do is keep the tanks occupied long enough until Fives and Hardcase here. Everyone ready?"

A few _You got it boss_'s and some _Yes sir_'s along with it but everyone knew the risk that they were facing but went along with it anyway. "Alright gentlemen, let's move it." He said as uncovered himself from cover and went in guns blazing towards the tanks.

[][][][][][]

Fives and Hardcase went after the first two fighters they saw and each of them climbed into them. They obviously were not pilots by any stretch of the imagination but it was in the clone's genetics to adapt and be able to adapt quickly. Not like it mattered to begin with, even the expert pilots that were trained for this still probably wouldn't have fared long enough with the fighters being alien technology.

Fives and Hardcase were flying like beginners and were knocking into everything in the way of the fighters, including the Umbarans that were trying to stop them. The Umbarans had spent the time trying to break through the ray shields of their own fighters that the clones had commandeered their star fighters, but to no avail.

"Woohoo!" Hardcase shouted as he disintegrated the remaining Umbarans in the airbase "We should've done this ages ago!"

"Easy there, Hardcase. Time to go kick some ass and save Rex and the rest of the battalion." Fives said as he was finally gaining control of the fighter and hurried off towards the battalion to try and save what was left of it.

[][][][][][]

"That's it boys keep up the fire now, only a few more minutes until Hardcase and Fives get here." Rex said as if right on que the two troopers dispatched to infiltrate the airbase and commandeer two enemy starfighters had arrived to destroy the tanks with their own weapons.

Fives and Hardcase clearly had no idea how to fly the starfighters but in the end, if the tanks were destroyed without any further casualties, then it clearly didn't matter. With their heavy weapons destroyed, the airbase became a much easier target, and it did as within a few minutes, the clones stormed through the front entrance and captured it upon the arrival of General Krell. The rest of the Umbaran soldiers had been routed and those that weren't killed in the ensuing battle had been locked up in the prison, below the command center.

As if usual, Krell had walked into the airbase last and expected meager success from his clones "Status report, CT-7567." Krell said walking up to Rex, Fives, Jesse, and Kix.

He had Ahsoka by his side as if she tied with a leash to make sure she didn't pull any heroics by jumping into battle, she kept up her optimism but it was hard when she looked around to see the wounded being transported onto shuttles "Sir, the airbase has been secured."

"Very innovative thinking, Captain. Sending your two clones to secure starfighters and destroy the starfighters was unorthodox but you still got it done." Krell said walking away towards the command center of the airbase with Ahsoka still chained to his side.

Once he was away, the four of them were discussing about what had just happened "I think he just complimented you." Fives said giving Rex a friendly punch in the arm

Rex had just shrugged it off "Maybe, still I don't like seeing Commander Tano being chained to his side. The three of you get some rest, I have a feeling it's going to be a long day tomorrow."

[][][][][][]

"Apparently the capital is still getting supplies from a ship in orbit here." Obi-Wan said bringing up a holoprojection of the Separatist supply ship in orbit "The supply ship is heavily fortified and as of right now, none of our fighters or bombers have been able to destroy it. But we have to look to our own borders," he said as a map of the capital and surrounding areas came up next to him "Apparently the Umbarans have equipped themselves with some type of new missile that destroys any organic being in its path. We have to take the capital, and we have to take it now." Obi-Wan said finishing

"I will prepare the men for an assault on the capital immediately." Krell said ending the communication and turning back around to face Rex before being interrupted again by one of the clones manning the radar.

The clone had pulled a map of the area and the missiles trajectory "Sir, we have missiles incoming." Krell just kept silent as he casually walked over to the viewport at the end of the room and saw the missiles explode in the distance a few clicks from the airfield.

Rex, Dogma and a few of the clones manning the communications were the only ones in the room with Krell and Ahsoka, Rex couldn't believe that Krell just wants to march them straight through the missiles towards the capital.

"Captain, have your men get some rest, we march on the capital at 0600." Krell said as Rex still couldn't believe and was just standing there in shock "You are dismissed, CT-7567." Krell said not turning away from the viewport as he headed down the elevator towards the barracks.

"If you don't mind, Master Krell. I think it's time that I get some shut-eye as well." Ahsoka said walking over to the elevator to head down the barracks with the rest of the clones, she preferred sleeping in the same area as the clones.

[][][][][][][]

"Now he's just lost his mind." Fives muttered to himself as Rex had just shared what he had learned to Fives, Hardcase, Jesse, Kix, and Tup. Ahsoka had been in the room also setting up her bunk on the far side of the room and overhearing what they were saying.

"There's nothing I can do, Fives." Rex said taking a seat on a desk with his feet propped up on the chair as he put his helmet down next to him and threw his head inside his hands in what seemed like utter defeat.

That was when Fives had an idea that popped into his head, it wasn't a perfect plan but it was a better plan the Krell's "I say, we use the starfighters against them and we take it up into space to blow the supply ship out of the sky."

"How would even be able to use them to begin with?" Rex asked

"Well it wasn't hard but Jesse here cracked the codes for their security." Fives said giving Jesse a friendly punch on the shoulder.

Rex wasn't completely opposed to the plan but he wasn't fully onboard with it either "Listen…" Rex sighed looking down at the floor once again and standing up "If we had the time and the training I would say go for it, but the truth is you are no pilots." Ahsoka had become a little more interested in what they were saying as she made her way over to their rebellious discussion.

"Come on, if Hardcase can fly one we all can." Jesse said

"Well, Hardcase wasn't really flying, it looked he was trying not to crash instead of flying." Tup had pointed out. Tup was one of the newer additions to the 501st, to go along with the rest of the clone army, he had distinguishing features that made him stand out from the rest of the army. His hair was wrapped up in a bun, almost like a sumo wrestler, to go along with his hair he had a distinguishing tattoo of a tear drop on the left side of his face, his helmet also had the same tattoo to match he put it on.

Ahsoka was at a loss for words, mutiny was about to take place and it was up to her to tell Krell or let it progress. "How about you, Commander?" Fives said looking over at Ahsoka which in turn caused the rest of the room to look back at her. She was still silent as she really didn't know what to say, she knew Krell had no regard for the safety of the clones and she knew that something had to be done but what Fives was planning could get him court-martialed and executed, she knew the risks and her master always taught that with responsibility comes risk.

"Suppose you're right about this Fives…" Ahsoka said before Jesse had cut her off

"Quiet, here comes Dogma." He whispered as everyone in the barracks had become quiet.

Dogma was defiantly suspicious and knew something was up "What's going on here?"

"Uhh, nothing." Tup said stuttering on his words, everyone just went back to doing what they were doing, Fives was overlooking Jesse at the monitor, Tup had laid back down on his bunk, Kix was going through his medical kit, and Hardcase was checking over his weapon as Rex had left the barracks room.

After a few seconds, Fives had followed Rex out of the room and Ahsoka had followed as well catching up to Rex "Rex, you have to see that Krell is manipulating you. This is the only way and you know it."

Rex shut his eyes tightly before opening them to look at Ahsoka and Fives "What you're supposing is mutiny, you'll be locked in the brig if you're lucky. I don't even want to think what might happen to the Commander." He said looking Fives dead in the eyes.

"If I find my pilots, I'm going through with it." Fives said leaving the Commander with the Captain.

The two were silent as Rex was standing by his beliefs and not wanting to be involved in Fives' stunt and Ahsoka was standing by what her master taught her, if things seem wrong find another way of doing it and Fives was right, his plan was the only other way.

"You know this won't end well if we keeping going along with Krell's decision making." Ahsoka said "Sooner or later, you'll have to make the right call about what's best for your men."

Rex was still silent as Ahsoka headed back into the barracks to get meditate and the storm that was brewing before them. He looked at the barracks then back at the tower where Krell was and he needed to do something.

[][][][][][][]

"Alright now try this." Fives said as he pressed a few more buttons to get the starfighter off the ground.

Fives had pulled out Jesse and Hardcase out of the barracks and into the hanger to try and get ahold of how to properly pilot the Umbaran starfighters. Time was something they had not had and they needed to figure something out or they would be forced to walk into the slaughter of Krell's plan. Ahsoka was observing from afar and staying out of sight from the rest of the common soldiers.

"Whoa!" Hardcase shouted as he lifted off the ground but immediately lost control of the aircraft and began crashing into the surrounding starfighters that soon set off an alarm that relayed back to the main control tower.

One of the clones had noticed the disturbance in the tower and alerted Krell who in turn got on the communicator to find out what was happening in the hanger "What is going on down there?" Krell barked

Fives pushed aside the clone standing the communicator and tried to make up a convincing enough story "Uhh, we are uhh running a safety drill sir." Fives said as he dodged another one of Hardcase's insane flying techniques.

"Safety Drill is scheduled at 0450, who changed the schedule?" Krell continued to bark

"Uhhh." Fives said as that's all he managed to get out before Hardcase had practically ruined their only hope of planning their mutiny mission.

Hardcase thought he had everything under control but in reality he was making it worse, his hands had made fists in an effort to land but he actually set off the plasma torpedo that got sent rocketing down the hanger, "That's gonna leave a mark." He muttered as the torpedo impacted against the bulkhead and disintegrated on impact as it dissolved the door leaving a gaping hole. Hardcase had finally calmed things down by placing his palms flat and landing the aircraft softly.

Krell had caught sight of the disintegrating hanger door and went down to investigate. He entered the hanger only to see the starfighters littered on the ground from what looks like the one crashing into the others. "Explain this. Now." Krell said coldly

Fives was speechless but not before Hardcase had spoken up "Sir, while we decrypting the enemy's security system, what seemed like a trap had set off and if I had not gotten it under control, we wouldn't be standing here."

Krell wasn't sure about believing the story but went along with it for now, "Very well," he said turning around "Captain, I want this hanger and all of these fighters locked down, we can't risk this happening again."

Hardcase and Fives each had faces of disappointment as their only plan was now shot down, as Krell had left the room, Hardcase, Fives, and Jesse each grouped up on how to handle what had just transpired in the hanger.

"Well, now what do we do?" Jesse said clearly disappointed

Fives knew what he was about to suggest was under the penalty of death "If we can't get his permission then we do it ourselves."

Hardcase and Jesse each looked at each other, Hardcase had like this from the start since he was able to deal heavy damage to the clankers "I'm in." Hardcase announced

Jesse still hadn't come up with an answer but knew it beat walking into the death trap that Krell was sending them to "Ahh, what the hell, I'm in too; beats getting killed by following Krell's orders."

Little did the three of them know that Ahsoka was observing them from afar and was quite interested in the plan they had drafted, she walked out from the crate she was standing behind much to the surprise of the three other clones "If you need a fourth, count me in." She said taking a seat on an ammo container by Jesse.

"Commander, are you sure about this? We all know the consequences for this, but it's what they'll do to you that concern me." Fives said squatting next to the Commander

"I know very well what they'll do to me, but lives are at stake, your brothers' lives. It's time I did something; Master Skywalker will understand if I do this." Ahsoka said leaning over to put her hand on Fives shoulder "Besides, someone will need to watch your back up there." She added grinning

Fives smirked and got back up to look at the three of them and explained how exactly they were going to undertake this task.

[][][][][][]

"You three keep your guards up, we don't know where the Umbarans are. Stay on high alert." Rex said throwing his night vision on, he oversaw the patrol of the airbase to make sure the surroundings were clear of any hostiles.

Fives, Jesse, Hardcase, and Ahsoka had made their way through the brush to meet up with Rex who was shocked to see the three of them "Fives? Commander? What are the four of you doing out here?"

Fives had a hard-face look, which was different than normal, he was the one that kept the morale up along with Hardcase who had the same expression as Fives "I found my pilots." He said through his night-vision.

Rex couldn't believe that Fives had actually found volunteers for his mission, let alone the Commander even "Fives, Commander, I see you're going to see this through."

"If you intend on stopping us, I need to know now." Fives had said

Rex looked down at the ground then back at his renegade band of troopers "There's nothing I can do for the four of you when you get back." He said looking Fives straight though his night vision

"I understand." Fives said walking back towards the airbase hanger but Ahsoka was the last one to leave as she stayed behind an extra second.

She turned back around and took off his helmet, he looked at her with his crystal blue eyes and lifted up her soft hands as she place his helmet at his side "To be honest, I don't want you going up there. You don't know what you'll find up there and to make it even worse, you won't know what to expect when you get back down here; but promise me you'll come back in one piece."

She looked back to meet his eyes and she saw a tear roll down his cheek; she hugged him tightly and gave him a kiss on the cheek "I promise." She wiped the tear of his cheek and collected herself for her mission.

She casually walked away with him looking off the hilltop, knowing the consequences that she would face when she came back.

[][][][][][]

This was the last chance for any of them to back out, once they left in the starfighters, they would reach the point of no return. They each knew the consequences, Jesse, Fives, and Hardcase would be trialed and most likely either thrown in the brig for life or executed for mutiny and disobeying a direct order from a commanding officer. As for Ahsoka, she would most likely, be put on trial by the Jedi Council and if she was really lucky, have her training be pushed back but if she wasn't; her Padawan braid would be taken away and she would be expelled from the Order.

The four of them had armed each of the starfighters and were quiet as each knew what was going to happen but no one had said a word, when all four were prepared, they each got into their own starfighters and fired them up.

The plan was something that Skywalker had used when he was just a boy during the first salvo that plunged the galaxy into total war, the Blockade of Naboo by the Trade Federation. The blockade by the Trade Federation had left the people of Naboo, starving and suffering, which had caused the Chancellor to send over two Jedi Knights and negotiate an agreement. The meeting fell apart and soon the two Jedi Knights had come across a force-sensitive boy on Tatooine on their way to the Galactic Capital. The boy had been with the two Jedi's as they were going back to Naboo to stop the blockade, somehow Skywalker had made his way into a Naboo Starfighter and piloted it towards the space battle above. His starfighter had appeared into the Trade Federation's Capital Ship's reactor and blew it to pieces, with that the blockade was broken and Skywalker had saved the people of Naboo.

This was the plan that Fives, Jesse, Hardcase, and Ahsoka were going to use to blow up the supply ship "Just follow my lead and we'll make it back safe." Fives said starting up his starfighter and flying it out of the hanger followed by the three others.

"Hey, what's going on?!" a clone had shouted and sprinted out of the supply area towards the fighters that were already long gone. Rex had just looked at starfighters and smirked from behind his helmet knowing that they would be the cause of the life and death of their brothers.

[][][][][][]

Dogma had not been sleeping well and rolled over in his bunk and saw that Fives, Jesse, and Hardcases' bunks were made but empty. He knew that something had happened and knew that Fives had not agreed with Krell's planning. With Tup being the newest clone of the 501st, it was hard for him to disobey what someone had told him, Dogma reached over and nudged Tup who was still sleeping.

Tup rolled back over to try and go back to sleep but Dogma had been persistent and woke him up "Where are they?" Dogma whispered

"What are you talking about?" Tup said dreary-eyed

"You know damn well what I'm talking about?" Dogma demanded "Did they do what I think they did?"

Tup was still dreary-eyed but knew what Dogma was mentioning "I don't know." He said trying to go back to sleep

Dogma knew that something would make Tup crack "If you know something but aren't saying anything, you could be an accomplice and you could be implicated as well."

Tup knew that Dogma was right and he didn't want to face the same fate as the three renegade troopers that were off to destroy the Separatist supply ship above the planet.

The two of them had gathered their supplies and went off to meet with the General who Dogma thought, needed to know the information. They had gotten all the way towards command center tower before being stopped by Rex, "Where do you two think you're going?" Rex asked but Dogma looked at him almost with disgust and kept walking.

Rex was agitated since Dogma had cracked the shiny into giving away what Fives, Jesse, and Hardcase were doing "I asked you a question troopers." Rex said this time blocking their path and staring the two of them straight in the eyes.

"We are have something to discuss with the General." Dogma said standing at attention

"Why don't you give me the message and I'll give it to the General?" Rex replied

Dogma knew that this wasn't going to work and even if he did give Rex the message, he surely wasn't going to give it to Krell "On second thought, nevermind." Dogma said as he and Tup left the command center and headed back towards the barracks.

"That's what I thought." Rex muttered as he looked back up at the sky towards the battle above that no one was able to see due to the dense atmosphere.

[][][][][][]

"This'll be a piece of cake and we'll be back before we know it." Fives said as the four of them had broke atmo and headed towards the supply ship

After breaking through the atmosphere, the group of renegades were in the midst of massive space battle "Whoa." Ahsoka said as she avoided debris from starfighters

"Just gather up and follow me." Fives said as he tried to navigate a flight path through to the supply ship.

Hardcase was surprised that the Republic starfighters had not fired upon their fighters and was worried when three other Umbaran starfighters had been trailing them for some time but left a little bit after "Alright we're all clear on our six." Hardcase announced

"Alright," Fives said holding his breathe "We go in blow the core and get out quickly." As the four of them flew straight into the hanger and Jesse had knocked into a battle droid that had alerted the presence of others in the area.

One droid took notice towards the last fighter and saw Hardcase in the fighter and alerted the bridge that clones had commandeered enemy fighters and infiltrated the Separatist supply ship.

The commanding droid of the ship had ordered all security measures including blast doors being shut which almost caused a calamity for the troopers "Why did they have to go and do that?!" Fives shouted as he launched one of the torpedoes from his fighter and blew the door open.

"Activate the ray shield around the reactor." The commanding officer announced

"Ray shield!" Fives shouted as he halted his starfighter just short of the ray shield and turned back around to face the incoming onslaught of battle droids.

The plan for the group had been thwarted for the time being but they held their own against the battle droids quite well, at least before the shields began to deplete "We're losing our shields fast, we need to do something now!" Jesse shouted as he blasted another few droids to pieces.

Hardcase had looked towards his torpedo cannon and saw it smoking and knew that he wasn't going to make it back in one piece and knew he had only one solution, he lowered his fighter and unhooked his torpedo "Hardcase, get back in your fighter!" Fives bellowed, but Hardcase had still been pushing his torpedo

"Someone has to save our skins!" Hardcase announced over the blaster fire

Fives knew what Hardcase was attempting to do and by god, he would not allow it by any means, "We'll find another way! Now get back in your fighter, that's an order!"

"This is something I have to do and you know it! This is for the boys of the 501st, now follow this order, and get out of here!" Hardcase said as he led his torpedo back behind the ray shield and into the reactor core

"If I know Hardcase, we're not going to want to be anywhere near this thing when it blows to pieces." Jesse said lifting his fighter off the deck and speeding towards the exit, Ahsoka quickly followed behind with Fives taking one last look back at Hardcase before departing.

With the three of them on their way out of the hanger, Hardcase had used all of strength to propel his torpedo towards the main reactor "Live to fight another day, boys. Live to fight another day." He said as the missile impacted the core and sent a shockwave through the rest of the hanger and Fives had almost been caught in the blast but escaped just in time.

The easy part was over in destroying the supply ship, the harder part was facing what they had just done."

[][][][][][][]

Rex was outside with Tup and Kix taking inventory when the clouds above him started to shift and showed the explosion of the supply ship and saw the three of them land on the airfield near their position.

Each of them had gotten out of their fighters with a gloomy look knowing that Hardcase had sacrificed himself for the mission "How'd it go? Where's Hardcase?" Tup asked the group.

"Hardcase sacrificed himself to save us." Fives said that was barely audible to the rest of the group

Three troopers had made their way out of the tower and towards the renegade group, Fives, Jesse, and Ahsoka each knew what was about to happen "The General would like to see them up in the tower immediately."

Without hesitation, Rex, the three trooper guards, Fives, Jesse, and Ahsoka made their way up the elevator to face their deeds.

[][][][][][][]

"You wanted to see them sir?" Rex said as they departed the elevator

Krell was silent as he was staring out the window before turning around and had a villainous look upon him "I did." Krell said "You know the penalty for defying a Commanding Officer." He began looking at Rex "And you Padawan, I would've thought better of you but perhaps the Jedi Order isn't where you belong after all." He said circling the young Padawan

"Sir, if there is any blame that should be lain upon, it should be me. I am their Commanding Officer." Rex announced as he snapped to attention

"Negative, I report that the responsibilities and blame of the three of us should be placed on me and me alone." Fives announced countermanding Rex's decision.

Krell was certainly not amused by what was unfolding "First you have the guile to go against my back to do what you thought was right! Now you have the audacity to place full blame upon yourself!" Krell bellowed to the four of them "The actions of ARC Trooper 5555 and CT-5597 will be decided by the Supreme Chancellor, they will be tried, they will be found guilty, and they will be executed." Krell said with each word had Jesse and Fives more nervous and scared for their life "As for you, Padawan, you will be placed before the Council and you will banished from the Jedi Order. Take them to the lockup for the time being." Krell said finishing as everyone had left the tower and Fives, Jesse, and Ahsoka would be placed within the same cell in the prison below the airbase for the time being.

[][][][][][][]

"This is just unbelievable." Fives muttered under his breath as he and Jesse had been stripped out of their armor and left in their fatigues.

As for Ahsoka she had her Padawan braid torn off and both of her lightsabers were confiscated by Krell, Fives and Ahsoka knew the consequences but so did Jesse, he just wasn't picturing it like this "It could be worse, you know." Ahsoka said as their elevator descended towards their cell and stopped.

Rex had led them to their cell much to his displeasure "I'll see what I can do about this." He said locking the cell and heading back to the command tower.

"Take your time, we're certainly not going anywhere." Fives said sarcastically, the only thing that the three of them could do was ponder about how much time their future had.

Ahsoka had found one of the corners to the cell and squatted down to begin meditating, Fives and Jesse looked at each other with confusion before Fives had spoken up "Remember dude, Jedi."

Rex had made his way up towards the tower to give Krell a few words to speak his mind "General Krell, a word if I may?" Krell was still looking at the endless landscape through the viewport in the tower before he turned around to respond to the veteran clone captain.

"What is it CT-7567?" Rex was not backing down and stood his ground when Krell approached closer

"Do you think that what you plan on doing to Jesse, Fives, and Commander Tano is a little harsh?" Rex asked

Rex tried to talk his way out of it but knew better "The actions of CT-5597, Padawan Tano, and ARC-5555, went against my command structure and took it upon themselves to rebel against me. I will not have a mutiny under my command, other clones need to see that disobedience will not be tolerated." Krell said thinking "Order them to a firing squad, we cannot risk another mutiny in our midst." Rex's face had exploded with terror as two of his best men and the woman he cared about were ready to be executed.

"But sir…" Krell cut him off before he could speak

"Are you disobeying my order, Captain?" Krell said, the other clones in the room had heard and were also alarmed about what was being done.

"No sir." Rex said snapping back to attention and heading back down the tower. While in the elevator he fiercely punched the wall of the elevator and dented it leaving a fist-sized dent in the wall.

He gathered Dogma and two other troopers to travel down to the prison level to meet Fives, Jesse, and Ahsoka.

Ahsoka was still meditating in the corner, Fives had been pacing back and forth while Jesse slumped along the wall admitting defeat. Fives caught sight of Rex, Dogma, and other troopers heading down the elevator "What's happening Rex?"

He didn't want to answer but Fives needed to know "General Krell has ordered your executions." He muttered

"WHAT?!" Fives bellowed "You can't be serious, Krell can't do this." Fives and Jesse had been scared for their life and their terror level had skyrocketed after hearing this. Ahsoka's eyes shot open but knew that this would've been her fate.

Rex had his hands over his eyes as they came out of their cell and onto the elevator "I'm sorry, Krell won't get away with this I promise."

"Oh don't worry about it, we knew what we got ourselves into." Fives said musingly

"Yeah, speak for yourself." Jesse blurted out

"Well, at least you still got your sense of humor." Fives said

"Who says I'm joking?" Jesse muttered said as the elevator had been lifted up towards the airbase towards their execution.

Dogma had picked out six clone troopers, two of them were Tup and Kix, to lead the firing squad. Fives, Jesse, and Ahsoka were led to the front of the building with the spotlight shown upon them. Everyone knew Dogma was a kiss ass but no one thought that he was this loyal enough to pull off the execution of the three renegades.

"Will the prisoners request to be blindfolded?" Dogma asked

Fives snarled back "I hope you can live with yourself Dogma."

Dogma headed back towards Rex who was ashamed of what he had done and watched the inevitable unfold before him "Ready." Dogma announced as the six clone troopers each checked their weapons and awaited for their command to fire. "Aim." Tup, Kix, and the four other troopers took aim at the prisoners who by now accepted their fate all except Fives of course.

Ahsoka had been mouthing the Jedi Code more specifically the final verse "There is no death, there is the force." Jesse was scared for his life, but Fives knew that no single minded clone would kill their brothers for something they clearly did that was right.

Fives needed to change the minds of his brothers and needed to convince them not to do this "Wait! This is wrong, and we all know it! The General is making a mistake, and he needs to be called on it. No clone should have to go out this way! We are loyal soldiers, but we are not a bunch of unthinking droids! We are men, and we must be trusted to make the right decisions. Especially when the orders we are given are wrong!" Fives announced over the group. Before anyone was ready to make a decision, Dogma ordered the fire command and the squad did just that.

Luckily for the three of them, every clone had already made their decision and missed the clone troopers and Jedi Padawan. Dogma had a look of confusion on his face but the six man squad dropped their rifles and stood at attention, Jesse and Fives couldn't believe their eyes.

"What? What happened?" Dogma questioned,

"They're doing what they do best, following their gut instinct." Rex announced "If this is we repay brave heroics, then one day every man in this battalion will suffer the same fate." He said as he ordered the prisoners to be cut loose.

Dogma was still beside himself "We have orders!" He protested

"Good luck finding anyone who cares." Rex muttered as he personally cut Ahsoka's binders and once she was free, she jumped at him with excitement and gave him a kiss on the cheek as she held onto him tightly before letting out a tear. "I'm sorry." He whispered

"General Krell would like to see you in the tower sir." One of the clones said walking over to Rex.

[][][][][][][]

"What were you thinking?!" Rex was not backing down from Krell's statement "I ordered the three of them executed, you will pay for your disobedience." Krell said meeting the clone face to face before an incoming transmission was coming in from one of the scouting parties that was alerted that the Umbarans had raided a Republic supply base and were now disguised with their weapons and armor. "Lucky for you, you had just been saved. Now go, I want those Umbarans eliminated." Krell said ordering Rex to leave the command tower.

[][][][][][][]

The 501st had been dispatched by Krell to neutralize Umbarans that had supposedly been outfitted with the clone troopers armor and weapons and were planning on ambushing the battalion at the airbase. After a few minutes of searching the surrounding fauna, Rex and his men had engaged the supposed Umbarans but had the armor of General Kenobi's 212th Attack Battalion, they had the armor, weapons, and even what looked like the same training.

_Something is up here_ Rex thought to himself as it was strange that the Umbarans had the same training as his own clones "Get the mortars up here!" he bellowed for his mortar team to get in position.

There was a point where Rex had gotten separated from his battalion "Captain, we need you back here!" Tup shouted on his comm

He was about to answer before he caught sight of a scuffle in the in the corner that resulted in the bodies of his troopers and the 'Umbaran soldiers', upon further investigation he lifted the helmet of the other trooper and realized he was a clone "What the..." he muttered as he took a step back in disbelief _I need to stop this before it turns into a bloodbath._ He thought as he sprinted towards the gunfire.

"Take off your helmets! They're not Umbarans! They're clones, were shooting at our own men!" He shouted from as he sprinted across the battlefield and tackling one of the opposing clones before taking off his helmet and grabbing him by the throat and turning him to the troops. "See?! We're all clones!"

Each of the clones were in disbelief as some even fell to the deck and vomiting at the fact they had just slaughtered their own brothers. The ones that hadn't been injured were tending to those that were, Rex still couldn't believe he was played for a fool but Kix had come up to him "Captain, I found their CO." Rex stood up to see Kix who's head was lowered "It's Waxor sir." He muttered

Waxor was with Rex when they liberated Ryloth and during the Second Battle of Geonosis and had mutual respect for each other, Rex trotted over to see him being treated by Kix, the 501st's medic, "He won't make it much longer, sir."

Rex knelt down besides Waxor who was struggling to breathe "Waxor, what happened?"

"We we're contacted saying that an Umbaran patrol with our weapons and armor were in this position." Waxor said still struggling to breathe knowing that he didn't have much time left.

"Who was it that gave you the order?" Rex asked

"It was…" Waxor was coughing and knew he only had a few minutes left "It was General Krell, but when we got here we only found you." Waxor said as he stopped breathing and one of Rex's few friends that he had was gone. He closed his eyelids and stood back up with hatred and anger in his eyes.

He gathered the remaining 501st and 212th to discuss what had transpired "We all know who's responsible for this, we just don't know why." Rex said pacing back in forth in front of his troops "What I'm supposing is highly treasonous, if any man wants to back out now, then do it now." He said as all the men under his and Waxor's command stepped forward in agreement "We are heading into uncharted territory and headed towards the point of no return, what I suggest is we arrest General Krell for treason against the Republic." He said as there were no objections. "Good, then let's get moving."

[][][][][][][]

Everyone knew what was about happen, each soldier was silent as they marched through the airbase and knew what they had to do. Everyone had their own thoughts but no one said a word, not when they checking weapons, not on the hike back, and not walking through to the airbase; not a word. Rex punched the button towards the prison block and unlocked Fives, Jesse, and Ahsokas' cell. He had their weapons and armor and even Ahsoka's lighsaber, he unlocked their binders and gave them back to the renegade band of misfits.

"Finally come to your senses, Rex?" Fives asked as he was handed his armor and blasters back but Rex was silent as he got back on the elevator.

"Is something wrong Rex?" Ahsoka asked concerned for Rex as he had fire and hatred in his eyes

Rex was still silent as he put his helmet on as he waited for Jesse and Fives to finish putting their armor on before heading up to the tower. Ahsoka was still concerned for Rex and was still confused about what was going to happen. The four of them made their up to the tower to greet the rest of his men just before the door leading to the command room. They opened the door and took position around the room and were ready by any means necessary to take Krell into custody.

Krell was looking villainous as always as he didn't move an inch when the clones had entered "General Krell, you are hereby under arrest for treason against the Galactic Republic." He announced as everyone readied their weapons.

Adrenaline ran through each of their bodies and everyone knew what they were about to face. Krell turned around and gave a devilish grin "It's mutiny then." He muttered as he light his double-bladed lightsabers.

"Lay down your weapons General. Now." Rex said as Ahsoka knew what she had to do and light her lightsabers as well.

Krell laughed and force pushed everyone into a wall, only Ahsoka was able to countermand it as she stood her ground "I will not surrender to creatures bred in a laboratory!" Ahsoka leaped at him only to be kicked into a while and knocked unconscious. Krell broke the windows and leaped out hitting the ground fast and hard before being seen by one of the clones.

"Stop!" the clone shouted as Krell darted for the forest cutting down any clone in his path

"He's heading towards the jungle, we have to get him!" Rex shouted as he motioned for everyone to head for the lower jungle. He checked on Ahsoka before she came through and told Rex that she would be fine and he left the tower and sprinted after Krell along with the rest of the 501st and 212th.

[][][][][][][][]

Krell swung back around and kicked Ahsoka into the nearest tree which knocked her out cold again but this time she didn't hit solid ground but landed on a spike in the ground "Ahsoka!" Rex shouted as he sprinted over to her and knelt before her as he thought the she was probably lost. Krell who was laughing behind him wasn't expecting the stun that came out of Rex's blaster and with that Krell was knocked out cold. "Take his ass to the brig and lock him up. And someone call for a medevac!" He shouted

Kix had come sprinting over to check on Ahsoka's vitals as he radioed in for a medical transport to be landed at the airbase. The two of them removed her from the spike and Rex threw her on his shoulder and sprinted towards the airbase, never before had he ran as fast as he did now. Not even on Kamino where the instructor beat the living piss out of him when he didn't try enough. The medical transport touched down as Rex got to the airbase and helped her get loaded on the transport. He had never felt this way about anyone, but Ahsoka was special, she was his and he would do all in his power to look after her.

She was helped onto the transport and she was taken back to the Resolute where she would be treated and hopefully would get better. He knew what he had to do, he unholsted his blaster and stormed off towards the brig. Fives caught sight of him and took off to make sure he wouldn't do anything rash. "Rex, what are you planning on doing?" Rex kept silent as the elevator hit the prison level and he marched off to Krell's cell and opened it.

"Captain, good to see you." Krell said grinning

"You will pay for your crimes today, Krell." Rex said coldly as he raised his blaster "Turn around and get on your knees."

Krell did as he was told before he taunted the Captain "Don't do this, Rex. It's not like you." Fives said as he urged Rex not to shoot Krell and let him face justice

"Go ahead, avenge your test-tube brothers." Krell said taunting him

Rex was ever so close to pulling the trigger "Think about it, what would Ahsoka want you to do?"

This was Krell's opportunity to make Rex tick "Yes, your Jedi girlfriend, did she say anything before she fell on the spike and became paralyzed? You know that she was going to leave you for the Jedi Order don't you, you know what it actually doesn't matter, she won't get anywhere for being such a low Padawan with no one to care for her. She'll die before she gets anywhere in the order."

Without hesitation Rex pulled the trigger and the bolt got sent flying through Krells torso as Krell fell limp "That was for Ahsoka and all my brothers." He muttered as he turned the elevator up and headed back towards the airbase.

Neither said a word on their way up but Jesse had come up to him and said that General Kenobi and Commander Cody had already secured the capital and the remaining Umbarans surrendered, apparently Krell had purposely jammed their communications.

"Alright, let's get out of here and get some much needed R & R." Rex said as he leaned back up against a gunship

"What is the point to all of this, all of our brothers getting slaughtered, day in, day out?" Jesse muttered

"I don't know Jesse but what I do know is we're fighting for the Republic and her citizens and that's the least we could do." Rex said

"What I do know is that when this war is over, the Republic is going to buy the 501st drinks for life." Kix said as everyone was loaded onto the gunships and headed back to the Resolute for some rest for the time being.


End file.
